Vive La Grand Vallee
by impactbluefxdwg
Summary: We all know the story of Aylene, a human girl, meeting the gang and going with them to the Great Valley. But what if she and the gang encountered a second human from the start? One that had already been there before her? And one who was more battle-ready, and known as the De-Facto leader of the Great Valley herd? Done with Elise Lowing's permission.
1. First Encounter With A Dinosaur

**Now, if you want to know what this fanfic is about, it is basically a fanfic of a fanfic, that is, a fanfic of Elise Lowing's The Land Before Time: Retold. It is basically the events of her fic, with a few differences, of course. The biggest one is that ANOTHER human joins Aylene and the gang from the start, and one characteristic of this guy is that he's an Anti-Hero. And ethnically Franco-Scottish. And native with both English and French. Anyways, on with it.**

 **Note that I do not own The Land Before Time (which belongs to Universal), The Land Before Time Retold, or Aylene (both of which belong to Elise Lowing). Like Elise Lowing, I am just exploring an alternate story. And before you ask, I am doing this with her permission.**

* * *

 _"You better get out of this valley now, imbecile."_

 _"Why should I? There's too much prey, including you, for me to ignore!"_

 _"Well, there are a few hundred of us, and only one of you. So it is best for you to say "Je m'en vais!" and leave."_

 _"And what if I don't, cocky little two-footer?"_

 _"Then the result will be simple: Nous allons tu enterrer!"_

* * *

Fourteen-year-old Tormod Robert Metais felt a hand rubbing his side as he slept. He had just been having a dream about facing down a Dromaeosaur-type dinosaur, maybe a Dakotaraptor or Utahraptor, whatever it was. It would have been interesting to see the dream through a little further, but feeling this hand on this side meant one thing, he had slept for too long. And what he heard next confirmed this.

"Reveille-toi (Wake up), Tormod." a female adult voice told him. "This is a later time than usual for you to wake up."

Tormod finally opened his eyes, and when he did, he saw his mother, Caitriona, standing over his bed. She didn't look upset or displeased at him, though she did look surprised, probably by the long amount of time that Tormod had been asleep.

"How long did I sleep, mother?" Tormod asked.

"Il suffit de regarder l'heure (Just look at the time)." Caitriona answered, motioning to a clock on the table near Tormod's bed.

Tormod then looked to his left at the clock, and groaned when he saw the time: 8:43. Even though, at the time, Tormod was now out of middle school and a week into his Summer Break, he still preferred to keep a get-up-early-go-to-sleep-early like he would during school so that his sleep schedule wouldn't change, so he would usually wake up at 6 or 7 at the latest. And the reason why he did this was not only so that, sleep schedule-wise, he wouldn't have a problem with going back to school, but because Tormod was a physically fit and active person who liked to stay physically fit and strong, as he actually lived in Montana, and such fitness was necessary if he was to help protect his family's country property, for he and his family often had to deal with bears trying to barge in.

"Oh, fantastique." Tormod said sarcastically as he got out of bed. "That's way later than normal."

Once he was out of bed, he turned to his mother.

"Well, anything special today?" Tormod asked.

"Il y a (There is)." Caitriona answered her son. "Your father and I have been spending all morning preparing your gear for something."

"Et qu'est-ce (And what is that)?"

"Well, we are going to give you quite a gift." Caitriona told him. "And as for what this gift does...well, it will take you somewhere, and it would be unwise to go anywhere without your gear, as you may already know."

Tormod nodded at the fact that his gear was necessary. His "gear" consisted of a Scottish Claymore (a large two-handed sword for melee combat), a Scottish Dirk (a fair-sized knife, also for melee combat), a Hungarian Recurve Bow (for ranged combat), a pocketknife (for utility purposes), and a backpack (which stored his water bottles, quite a few granola bars, and a few other necessary items). The reason why he had a Claymore, a Bow, and a Dirk as part of his gear was because his father, Louis, despite being French-born, was a medieval weapons enthusiast who had blacksmithing as a hobby (yes, you heard that right).

At that, Tormod got his clothes changed. He changed out his pajamas for a grey shirt and brown jeans, along with now having his black outdoor shoes on. Once he got his clothes changed, he went downstairs with his mother to where his father was waiting with his gear.

"Bonjour, Tormod (Good morning, Tormod)." Louis greeted. "Took you a long time to wake up today, didn't it?"

"Oui, je sais (Yes, I see that)." Tormod remarked. "Still, it happens. You know me: I am not perfect with my sleep schedule."

"Well, good to see that you're up." Louis told him. "I've been waiting for you, and I've spent all morning getting your stuff ready."

Then, Tormod walked over to his father.

"A propos de ce cadeau (About this gift)," Tormod began, "quel-est-il (what is it)?"

"Well, Tormod, this is a "Time Stone"." Louis replied, motioning to a little box on the nearby table, and opening it, revealing a necklace with what seemed to be some sort of jewel on the end. "Your mother might have already explained this to you, but what this does is that it will take you somewhere. As for where, well, we want you to find out for yourself, but what we will tell you is that your grandfather, that is, my father, would use it to go on adventures where it took him."

Tormod looked at his father with a stare for a few seconds before taking the Time Stone out of the box and putting it on.

"...Tres bien allors (Very well then)." Tormod responded, a little surprised. "So, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, for now, you could just do the morning routine that you have." Louis told his son. "We'll tell you what to do with this time stone later. For now, put your gear on if you want to practice your skills."

* * *

Kosh stirred in his nest until he woke up. The large, pink adult Clubtail woke up to the sight of the Great Valley around him, as usual. Like many other flatteeth, Kosh lived in the Great Valley, and it was his home, and his feeding ground, for there was a lot of food to be eaten, food being one thing that Kosh really liked. So, to start the day right, Kosh went looking for any berry bushes that he could find.

The Great Valley was perhaps the most fertile place in the world for dinosaurs. For some reason, plants would grow back absurdly fast. Leaves and berries would grow back in as little as a single day, and if a tree was knocked down, it would likely grow back in just a few weeks. Kosh didn't know why the valley was like this, but he didn't care. As long as there was plenty of food around, he was happy.

It wasn't very long before Kosh found a berry bush to eat from. And it wasn't long before he started eating. Even he had to admit that he was a messy eater, but that was the way that he was, as he didn't care much for manners, and he cared more about getting the food he needed than manners.

Soon, Kosh had eaten up all the berries of the berry bush, and he was looking for another one when he suddenly overheard an interesting conversation. This conversation was between a Swimmer and a Domehead over the existence of a type of creature. The Swimmer seemed to believe they existed, while the Domehead did not.

"Come on, you know they exist, don't you?"

"No, they don't!"

"Well, they do."

"And how would you know that?"

"Ever heard of the Lone Dinosaur? There was one who went with him."

"Bah, the Lone Dinosaur never existed. He was just a made up story. As was that human!"

Human. That word, especially the way that the Domehead put emphasis on it, really stood out to Kosh. This wasn't the first time that Kosh had heard of "humans". And he understood that, after 40 cold times of them not being seen, many dinosaurs, like this Domehead, would doubt that humans ever existed in this world. So Kosh walked off to ponder through his memories.

Normally, Kosh was quite a skeptic himself, and he often dismissed old stories as made up stories just for impressing hatchlings with. And he would have did the same thing with the stories about humans...except that there was one key fact that made him not do this:

He had seen a "human" himself. In fact, he had practically been RAISED by one.

Truth be told, Kosh was actually one of the older residents of the Great Valley (having lived to see 65 cold times, whereas most of the Great Valley's residents seemed younger, although dinosaurs could live for up to 200 cold times), and he had been living here for all of his life. However, he wasn't always the content individual he was today.

When Kosh was still a very young hatchling, he was having the worst of luck. The poor kid had only managed to celebrate his star day 5 times when the rest of his family died from a terrible disease, and Kosh was the only survivor of this outbreak. As you would expect, it turned Kosh into a broken mess who wasn't much into eating at all, and he was coming very close to losing the will to live.

But then, something WONDERFUL happened. Just as Kosh thought that he couldn't live anymore, there was a blinding light before him, and once the light dissipated, there, in front of him, was an odd creature with pinkish-cream colored skin on his face, and black and grey skin on the rest of his body. When the creature woke up, Kosh, now afraid, and not knowing what to do, began to cry out of fear of what the creature could do to him. But then the creature did something unexpected but welcoming: instead of trying to harm Kosh, he _hugged_ the young Clubtail, begging him not to cry, for he meant no harm.

Once Kosh calmed down, the creature explained that his name was "Charles", and he was a type of creature called a "human". Then, "Charles" began explaining to Kosh some more stuff about himself. The strange object that Charles was holding was called an "Arbalete", which he used to protect himself, and now Kosh, from any threats. The weird reed-like stuff on his head was called "hair", and most of his skin turned out to be something that he wore called "clothes". Now, sometimes, Charles slipped into what sounded to Kosh like some weird sounding gibberish that only had a few understandable words, but then Charles explained the concept of "languages", and explained that the language that they were speaking in at the moment was "English", and the language that he sometimes slipped into was "French".

At the same time, Charles expressed his desire to help poor Kosh, and he decided to take Kosh in, and take care of him as best as possible. Of course, best as possible was the key word, since he then told Kosh that he actually lived in another world, and he would have to travel between the two worlds.

For the next 15 cold times, Charles indeed did his best to raise Kosh, helping him mature, teaching him how to survive, and giving him the ability to defend himself by teaching him how to use that clubbed tail of his.

But then, one day, soon after Kosh had hit adulthood, Charles left, and he never came back. Kosh was obviously very upset at this, seeing his adopted father and friend leave for good. But after a brief period of mourning, Kosh remembered that Charles wouldn't have wanted to see him like this, and as a result, he helped himself get over it rather fast.

Even now, though, after all of these cold times, Kosh still missed Charles, and wished that he would at least see him or another human again.

* * *

After a little while, Tormod was finished with his morning training session, and he and his parents went back to their house.

It wasn't very long after they got inside that Tormod, who still had all of his gear on, decided to ask his parents about the stone again.

"Alors, ou cela me prend-il (So, where does this take me)?" Tormod asked.

"Comme tu vois (Well you see)," Louis explained, "it takes you to a world where creatures that are extinct in our world still live. The time periods of the creatures on our world, well, the ones that the evolutionists say that they lived in, that appear there are all further back than the Mammoth, though."

"And which time periods, if you put it that way?" Tormod inquired. "Devonien (Devonian)?"

"Trop loin en arriere (Too far back)." Louis told him.

"Carbonifere (Carboniferous)?"

"Encore trop loin (Still too far)."

"Permien (Permian)?"

"Pres (Close)."

"Triasique, Jurassique, ou Cretace (Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous)?"

"Tu devez decouvrir par-toi meme (You have to find out for yourself)."

"...D'accord (...Alright)." Tormod sighed in disappointment. Then, he reminded them of his passion for dinosaurs. "Well, you know me: the reason why I mentioned those last 3 periods was because I really like dinosaurs."

"Nous savons (We know)." Caitriona replied. "And who knows what creatures you might encounter? After all, there are endless possibilities as for which one."

"Of course, there are infinite possibilities, and I am aware that dinosaurs are a possible inhabitant of that world." Tormod responded. "Of course, as for dinosaurs..."

* * *

Kosh, in all of his pondering, ended up wandering back to his nest, devouring a few berry bushes along the way. He certainly wished that he could meet Charles again, but then he remembered that Charles once told him that humans lived for only half as long as dinosaurs did, and Charles looked like he was about middle-aged by the time of his last visit, which had been 45 cold times ago. Now, he was faced with a very unfortunate reality.

"I'm probably not gonna see Charles alive again." Kosh said to himself sadly as he sat down in his nest. "And I probably won't see another human ever again, either."

And then, he looked at the sky.

"Still,"

* * *

At that moment, two different creatures, one human, one dinosaur, from two different worlds, unintentionally made the exact same wish at the exact same time.

* * *

 **"It would be nice to meet one."**

* * *

Louis and Caitriona nodded in acknowledgment at their son's wish. That was one thing that he always wanted to do. And the understood that, since they would have liked to do it as well.

Suddenly, though, the time stone around Tormod's neck began glowing brightly.

And before he could say anything, there was a flash of blinding light.

Then, nothing.

Meanwhile, Louis and Caitriona finally opened their eyes again when the light went away. And their son wasn't there.

"Louis," Caitriona asked her husband in surprise and a little bit of panic, "...was that just the time stone?"

"Yes, Caitriona, just the stone." Louis answered. "There's a pretty good chance of him ending up in the Great Valley, and if that happens, as long as he does it right, he'll be fine."

* * *

Kosh looked at the ground and sighed again. He would likely never see Charles again, and likely no other human again.

Or so he thought.

Suddenly, there was an unexpected, blinding flash of golden light right in front of him. It was so bright that in order to prevent himself from losing his eyesight for a short time, Kosh had to cover his eyes with his forepaws. But that wasn't the main thing that would be occupying his mind for long.

When the light dissipated, and Kosh uncovered his eyes, he was shocked by the sight of what he saw in front of him. Lying in front of him was an odd looking creature with weird-looking skin, strange stuff coming out of its head, and no tail. But what shocked him was not how weird the creature was.

It was that this type of creature looked...familiar. Also familiar was the creature randomly appearing in front of him in a blinding flash of light.

"Deja vu." Kosh said to himself. That was one "French" phrase that Charles taught him that he always remembered. Then, he asked himself one thing that was VERY possible.

"Is that a...HUMAN?"

* * *

 **I know, I know, this fanfic is very similar to Elise Lowing's fanfic, in case you haven't read the top yet. And also in case you haven't read the top yet, I am doing this fanfic with her permission, so don't tell me that I'm stealing, because I'm not.**

 **And before you ask, yes, Tormod and his family are speaking English and French in the same sentence. This is also a first for TLBT: a foreign-language-speaking character who speaks something other than "Sharptooth".**

 **Also, I know that I'm still working on another fanfic, Shaka The Unshakable. I'll likely finish that one soon at some point.**


	2. Sacré Bleu!

To see if he was correct or not, Kosh stood up from his nest and took a few steps closer to the odd creature. When he got a good look at the creature, he was able to discern the creature's features better.

The creature's skin was cream-colored on his arms and face, but grey in his torso, brown on his legs, and black on his feet. Of course, like a human, the creature's skin was baggy on a good portion of his body, but judging from the way that the creature was shorter, it was possibly far younger than Charles ever was. However, there were some other, stranger features as well.

There was an odd brown lump on the creature's back, with what seemed to be some sort of stick coming out of it. There was also a small black object on the creature's left hip, and then there was what seemed to be a curved stick with a vine attached to it that was around the creature's shoulder.

But then Kosh noticed that the creature was still breathing, so to help it wake up, he nudged it slightly a few times with his nose. Sure enough, the creature soon winced and groaned as it looked like it was starting to wake up. Kosh didn't want the creature to wake up with his nose in its face, so he carefully and quietly took a few steps back.

* * *

"Hey, kid, are you okay?"

Still dazed and confused by what just happened, Tormod heard what sounded like the voice of a middle-aged man.

"Oui...I...think so." Tormod blindly answered as he tried to open his eyes.

Disoriented from the stone taking him somewhere, as he got up to his knees, Tormod looked to his left, and he strained his eyes, only barely making out a pinkish-red shape. He shook his head slightly, and his vision finally became clear. What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise, although he initially managed to keep himself from jumping out of his skin.

Right there, in front of his eyes, was a DINOSAUR, an _Ankylosaurus_ , to be exact, and what the odd pinkish-red shape turned out to be, as the dinosaur had that same color.

But then, something happened that not even in his dreams did Tormod expect.

"Are you sure you're okay, kid?" the dinosaur asked in the same middle-aged voice.

At this, Tormod only had one reaction.

 **"SACRE BLEU!"**

Tormod jumped to his feet and stumbled back a few feet, almost falling over. Out of surprise and shock, he gripped the sides of his head and went into a french rant.

"Qu'est-ce que le foutre se passe?! D'abord, la pierre du temps m'emmene quelque part sans que j'essaye meme! Ensuite, je rencontre un dinosaure, de toutes choses, quelque chose que je ne savais pas que je ferais por de vrai! Et maintenant le dinosaure parle! Qu'est-ce que l'enfer a tort avec moi?!"

* * *

Startling the creature into a rant like that was something that Kosh didn't want to do. All he wanted to do was help, but perhaps this creature was shocked by the fact that he could talk. This, however, proved something that Kosh had been suspecting.

This creature was a human.

Back when Charles was still around, he explained to a still-young Kosh that humans were the only ones of their world who could really talk like flatteeth could, and it was in various different languages, as he called them. So because of that, it was very shocking to them whenever they met another creature, like a flattooth, who could talk. And since this reaction greatly deviated from that of other dinosaurs, who saw it as a literal everyday thing, this was a great way to figure out if this creature was a human.

Right now, though, he had to get the human, who was ranting in a foreign language, which he could tell was French because of being raised by Charles, who was a French speaker, to stop freaking out.

"Hey, slow down." Kosh told the human, getting his attention. "Panicking isn't gonna help."

At that, the human stopped ranting and looked at him. Kosh could tell that the human looked nervous.

"Look, I know that this is pretty confusing for you right now," Kosh began, "but just let me ask you this. What's your name? Do you have one?"

The human hesitated for a bit before responding.

"Oui...my name's Tormod." the human responded. "And...yours?"

"Mine's Kosh." Kosh introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, young human."

"You too-" Tormod replied in kind, until he seemed to realize what Kosh just called him. "Wait, what? How did know I was a human?"

"Well, it's a long story." Kosh told him. "But if you want me to try and explain it to you, I am happy to do that. Want me to explain?"

Tormod nodded.

"Alright then, come here and let me tell you, but just to let you know, this is gonna be long." Kosh warned.

Tormod apparently thought that "come here" meant "come here and sit in my lap", for when Kosh sat back down in his nest to tell Tormod his story of how he knew about humans, Tormod walked over to him and sat in his lap. That wasn't what Kosh meant, but oh well.

Either way, though, Kosh then took a deep breath and began telling his story. "It all began 60 cold times ago, or 60 _years_ ago, as you humans probably call it. Anyways, at that time, I was only 5, and I wasn't having the best time of my life, since at the time, I had just lost my entire family to a pretty bad sickness. as you would expect, I cried a lot, because I missed my family so much, and because of that, some of the other kids used to bully me and call me a crybaby."

Tormod seemed visibly upset at hearing this, though he didn't say anything, as if waiting for Kosh to say something else. So Kosh went on with his story.

"But then, something amazing happened." Kosh continued with a slightly upbeat tone. "In a bright flash of light, a human ended up right in front of me. When he woke up, and when I let him come near me, he told me that his name was "Charles", and he explained some stuff about himself, and that he came here because of something called a "time stone" that hung around his neck. When I told him what had happened to my family, Charles felt sorry for me, and because of that, and wanting to help me, he adopted me as his son. Now, because he came from another world, which must be where you humans live, Charles had to travel between his world and this one. But even then, Charles did his best to raise me in that manner, teaching me the stuff I needed to know, like how to get my own food, how to give myself a bath, and how to use this clubbed tail to protect myself, the last one being why I'm often called "Mr. Clubtail". And for 15...years, from the time he found me to the time that I became a grown-up, Charles raised me, and he was pretty much my father."

Tormod looked pleased by the fact that this "Charles" guy did such a good job raising Kosh to adulthood. But then, Kosh's story took a less pleasant tone.

"That, though, was when it happened." Kosh began wrapping up his story with a more downbeat tone. "One day, when I was 20...years old, and when I had become a grownup, Charles left, and he never came back. At first, I didn't know that he was never going to come back after that time, since he had been coming to, and going from, my world for so long. But then, I found that I was waiting a really long time, and eventually, I finally realized that he was gone, and it hurt bad, really bad, because he was the guy who I eventually came to know as my father and my best friend, and he's also the reason why I'm still alive today. Now, I'm 65, and I still wish that I could see him again for just once."

* * *

Tormod was quite surprised and touched by how much of a mood whiplash there was in Kosh's story. The elder dinosaur had much more depth to him that one would expect him to have. And he certainly didn't exactly have the happiest life, either.

"Mon dieu, that was definitely not the easiest way of growing up." Tormod remarked. "At least the story is to the point about why you know about humans."

"Well, glad you understand." Kosh replied. Then, he decided to ask the young human what he wanted to do. "So, what do you want to do now, Tormod?"

"I...don't know." Tormod bluntly admitted. "Honestly, this whole "being with the dinosaurs" thing is very hard for me to take in."

"If that's the case, then you could come with me." Kosh offered. "I may usually do my stuff in the morning by myself most of the time, but I don't mind you tagging along."

"Alright, I guess I'll go with that." Tormod accepted. "Maybe that will help me get this whole thing through my head."

Then, as Tormod and Kosh got up, the elder dinosaur looked at the young human male. It was clear to Tormod that Kosh had another offer.

"And it's not like you have to walk the whole time." Kosh told him. "I already know that humans get tired faster than dinosaurs do, and I learned that from growing up with Charles. He always had poor stamina, so to get around that problem, he would ride me, since even when he had just found me when I was only 5, I was way bigger and stronger, and I didn't get tired as fast, so even then, I could easily carry him. If you want to, you can ride on my back too."

Tormod nodded, at this offer, accepting it. At this, Kosh lowered his decently-sized head to allow Tormod to get on. Once he was on the large Ankylosaurus, Tormod settled down in-between the spikes on Kosh's back, which were widely spaced apart, so he had a lot of stretching room.

"Are you ready, Tormod?" Kosh asked once Tormod was on his back.

"Ready."

"Alright then, here we go." Kosh said, and with that, he began moving.

Tormod couldn't believe that he was _riding a dinosaur_ , and he found it rather thrilling, though initially, he found it harder to ride a dinosaur than he thought, but once he steadied himself, the ride was smooth.

Once he was steady, Tormod decided to relax a bit on Kosh's back. Even though he was usually brave and calm, and didn't need to relax as often as others, this was a completely different situation, because he was in a very different world, where he knew that things worked differently.

Today was going to be long, so he needed to try taking it easy if he could.


	3. Myth? Please

Soon enough, with Tormod riding/resting on his back, Kosh was walking through the valley, stretching his legs. Considering his huge appetite, one might think that he was looking for another bush of berries. However, Kosh wasn't actually looking for more berries, since he had already gone through them all this morning. Really, he was just exercising, since he knew that he had to burn all of that energy in order to be able to eat again without getting overweight. Truth be told, Kosh broke the stereotype of someone who was a big eater being fat and lazy. Actually, Kosh was a rather active dinosaur, and there was more muscle on him than fat. This was because Charles had taught him that, in order to be strong, he could certainly eat as much as he wanted, but he had to "work out" a lot, as he put it.

Tormod, on the other hand, was laying down on Kosh's back, holding his backpack on his stomach, still trying to take in the fact that he was in a world of dinosaurs. It was an overwhelming feeling alright, and even though he was expecting to go into a world of some sort of ancient creatures, he was not expecting talking dinosaurs, of all creatures. Tormod was so pressured by all of this that all he felt like doing was laying down on the back of the large Ankylosaurus he was riding on and trying to rest his mind. It wasn't too long before Kosh noticed this, though, and became worried.

"Hey kid," Kosh asked, concerned, "are you okay up there?"

"Oui, I'm fine." Tormod answered. "Just trying to get this thing through my head...it's just so much to take in."

"Ah, well, sorry about that." Kosh told him. "Then again, as you might as well have pointed out earlier, you haven't seen a talking dinosaur like me before, and that's why it's so hard to figure out."

"Exactement (exactly)". Tormod replied.

"Alright then, it's just fine if you rest then." Kosh responded. "Not like you're that heavy in the first place. Just try not to fall asleep up there."

"Bien sur." Tormod dryly said to himself. He did feel like nodding off a bit, as to help himself with the huge stress on his mind at the moment.

And as Tormod lay there on Kosh's back, feeling the rolling motion of him walking, he was indeed getting close to conking out. But just as he was about to do so, he heard a voice, which woke him back up.

"Uh, Kosh, what is that thing that's up there on your back?"

This woke Tormod back up, and when he set his backpack aside and sat up, he noticed a Pachycephalosaur of some kind looking back at him with perhaps the biggest "WHAT" look he had ever seen someone give. Tormod would have returned the look, if it weren't for the fact that he was in the middle of getting some rest.

"Did you really have to disturb my rest?" Tormod irritably asked the shocked dinosaur.

The Pachycephalosaurus gave no reply.

"Didn't know that I was alive, didn't you?" Tormod asked again.

"N-n-no, I...I...didn't!" The Pachycephalosaurus stuttered, as if nervous.

Deep down, Tormod was a little surprised that this "thick-headed lizard" (as the scientific name of the dinosaur meant) which he expected to be short tempered and bold, was acting like a stage-fright-afflicted schoolboy standing in front of a crowd. He didn't exactly know why this was happening, but he assumed that it was because the dinosaur had never seen a creature like him before, and perhaps these plant-eating dinosaurs were afraid of anything new.

Then, though, the Pachycephalosaur had the courage to speak up again.

"Who and what are you, a-anyways?" the Pachycephalosaur asked.

"Do you want to know?"

The Pachycephalosaurus nervously nodded in reply.

"Well..." Tormod began his answer,"...my name is Tormod Robert Metais; you may simply call me "Tormod". And as for what I am, I don't know if you have ever heard of my kind before, but I am a type of creature called a "human"."

At hearing that last bit, the dinosaur's eyes seemed to almost pop out. This reaction told Tormod one thing: among the dinosaurs in this world, it wasn't just Kosh who knew about humans.

"But I-I thought that humans were a myth!" the Pachycephalosaurus exclaimed.

"Well, I guess they're more than myth now." Tormod snarked at him. "I assume you wanna tell your buddies about this, do you?"

Seemingly without answering him, the Pachycephalosaurus dashed off, but this indeed answered Tormod's question. Either way, though, Tormod felt better, back to his old deadpan, mostly-stoic self, since he sorta liked it whenever he could give someone a good shock, as that was the sort of sense of humor that he had.

Then, once the Pachycephalosaurus disappeared behind some bushes, Kosh spoke up, noticing Tormod's change of mood.

"Feel better, kid?" Kosh asked.

"Oui, I do." Tormod answered. Then, his mind was back on the Pachycephalosaur. "Well, looks like that one's gonna call for a meeting. Should we also go to that meeting?"

"Well, if that's what you want to do, then I guess we could go." Kosh replied.

"Then it's settled: we will come." Tormod responded.

And with that, Tormod and Kosh began following where the Pachycephalosaurus went. Tormod knew that he now had a chance to disprove any notion of his kind being a "myth".

* * *

 **Sorry about this chapter being shorter than I wanted it to be, but I just felt like it was taking too long to get a chapter out, and I REALLY wanted to get it out. And trust me, there will be some...action in the next chapter.**


	4. A Raptor Problem

It was only a few minutes before Kosh got to an area of the valley where, according to Kosh, the dinosaurs living in the valley would hold meetings. And it didn't take very long at all for Tormod to see why the dinosaurs called this their "Meeting Place": soon, there were a few hundred dinosaurs there. They were all quite surprised, and also a little nervous, by the sight of a human, which they likely thought to be a myth, right there with them. And Tormod couldn't really blame them for that: he could only imagine that a dinosaur would find a creature with odd multi-colored skin, reeds coming out of its head, and no tail very weird.

After a few minutes, all of the dinosaurs had apparently showed up for the meeting, probably because most of them had never seen a human before. Sensing that this meeting, whatever it was, was about to start, Tormod decided to quickly ask Kosh something.

"Just a quick question," Tormod asked, "who's the leader of this meeting?"

"Leader?" Kosh responded, "Well, kid, we don't quite have a certain dinosaur as "leader", not yet, anyways. Although, there is one older dinosaur called "Mr. Thicknose" who most commonly leads meetings." Then, Kosh looked over and noticed the elderly dinosaur moving to the speaker's area. "That's him. You know about dinosaurs with three horns, right?"

"Oui, I do." Tormod replied.

"Well," Kosh continued, "Mr. Thicknose looks just like that, except that he has no horns, and he has a thick nose, hence his name."

When Tormod looked around, he eventually saw a dinosaur that matched Kosh's description: an elderly-looking, hornless Ceratopsian with, as Kosh said, a thick nose. Tormod was, believe it or not, something of a dino-nut back at home, so he was able to tell that Mr. Thicknose, as Kosh called the elderly dinosaur, was a Pachyrhinosaurus.

"Oh, I see now." Tormod said. "Thank you, Kosh."

"No problem." Kosh replied back.

At that, Mr. Thicknose began speaking. As was apparent to Tormod, everyone in the group of dinosaurs, even Kosh, gave the elderly dinosaur their full attention. So, he decided to follow along and pay attention as well.

* * *

"Good morning, my herdmates." Mr. Thicknose began. "It has come to my attention that many of us are claiming to see a creature known as a "human" right here in this valley. That will be the focus of this morning's meeting."

Then, he looked around at all of the dinosaurs. They all seemed very nervous or confused.

"Now then, where to begin?" Mr. Thicknose asked all of them. "Anyone have anything to say about this?"

Almost immediately, a particularly and unusually nervous-looking Domehead raised his right arm.

"You wish to speak?" Mr. Thicknose questioned.

The Domehead nodded his head rather quickly.

"Very well then, go ahead." Mr. Thicknose told him.

The Domehead tried to breathe before speaking.

"Errr, I...I...I saw one riding on Kosh earlier this morning!" The Domehead spouted. "He...he even talked to me and told me that he was a human!"

"This "human" riding on Kosh and talking to you, young one?" Mr. Thicknose became skeptical. "I do not think that a human would already be-"

But when Mr. Thicknose then looked at Kosh, he lost his words when he saw a sight that he had not seen in at least 40 cold times. There, on Kosh's back, was a small, two legged, tailless creature with the brown patch on his head, the odd-colored skin, and the flat, pale face and forward-facing eyes.

This creature that he was looking at...

...was a **human**.

"Are my eyes deceiving me?" Mr. Thicknose asked himself.

But then, the human spoke with the voice of what sounded like a young adult male, actually mocking him.

"Only if your ears are, as well." The human snarked at him.

This hammered it home to Mr. Thicknose that, no, his eyes were NOT deceiving him, for he was INDEED looking at a human. So he decided to try to at least greet this human.

"Erm, hello there." Mr. Thicknose cautiously and awkwardly greeted.

* * *

It didn't take very long for Tormod to figure out that the greeting was directed at him. Tormod decided that it was only right to return the greeting, not only because it was right, but also because, why not?

"Bonjour." Tormod greeted back.

But the French greeting seemed to confuse the elderly dinosaur. Tormod rolled his eyes when he remembered that these dinosaurs didn't speak French.

"In case you're wondering, that means "hello"." Tormod added.

Now, "Mr. Thicknose" understood what Tormod meant, but he was still a little weirded out by this kind of greeting.

"That's an odd way of saying "hello"." the old dinosaur hung a lampshade on Tormod's French greeting. "Pardon me, but where did you get that greeting from?"

"I'll explain it to you later." Tormod told him. Then, though, he remembered what Kosh had said about what these dinosaurs thought of his kind. "Anyways, it seems to me that quite a few of these dinosaurs here think that my kind is a "myth". Is that true?"

"Well, yes, a lot of us do." Mr. Thicknose confirmed. "That's because it's been so long since we last saw a human that many of the younger dinosaurs think that your kind is a myth."

"In that case," Tormod suggested, "perhaps you and the others here could tell me some aspects of this "myth", and I'll tell you whether they are true about my kind."

"...I guess we could go with that." Mr. Thicknose accepted.

So there began a little impromptu Q&A session. Now, Tormod had the full attention of all of the dinosaurs.

"First question about humans?" Tormod asked. "Please, tell me any details about these "legends" that were about my kind...which we should now know exists, and I will tell you whether those details are true."

For a few moments, none of the dinosaurs seemed willing to ask. But then, one dinosaur, a brown Parasaurolophus by the looks of him because of that downward-curving crest on his head, finally stepped up.

"My father told me some things about "humans"." The parasaur made his statement. "He told me that "humans" were smaller than almost any dinosaur, had no tail, and had either patches or reeds growing out of their heads."

It didn't take that terribly long for Tormod to come up with an answer to that one.

"I have to say, that is quite correct." Tormod responded. "Indeed, compared to all of you, I am quite small, and, of course, I have no tail, although it might be hard to tell right now. But if you are saying stuff about "patches" growing out of my head..." He then put his hand in his hair to punctuate what he was going to say. "If you are saying anything about that, then if you are referring to this stuff on my head that we humans call "hair", then that's right as well."

The dinosaurs seemed to accept this response, though they still seemed a little nervous.

Next up, though, came a green Styracosaurus. He also seemed ready to say something.

"I also heard some things from my father about..."humans"." The Styracosaur added. "He would say about how, even though humans were flatteeth, they would ally with us flatteeth against the sharpteeth."

Contrary to the Parasaurolophus' response, this one confused Tormod, to the point where he literally had absolutely no idea what the Styracosaurus was saying.

"Wait, what?" Tormod muttered to himself, scratching his head.

Luckily, Kosh quickly and quietly explained to Tormod that "flattooth" meant a plant-eater, "sharptooth" meant a meat-eater, and a "halftooth" meant an omnivore, like Tormod.

"Ah, I see now..." Tormod finally grasped what the Styracosaur was saying. "Well, if you want me to put it that way, then humans are indeed "halfteeth". And as for being allied with "flatteeth"...I guess I could follow along on that. Just respect me as an ally, of course."

All of the dinosaurs there seemed to nod their heads at this, as they seemed to want all of the allies that they could get.

Then, almost immediately afterwards, came up an easily recognizable Triceratops. He, like the others, seemed to have already known something about the "myth" of humans.

"You should've heard all of the stuff that my father, of all dinosaurs, was saying about "humans". The Triceratops spoke almost mockingly. "For some reason, he was saying that "humans" were the strongest creatures for their size, and among the mightiest of all when going up against sharpteeth."

This one hit Tormod like a shockwave from an atomic bomb hitting a car. Wait, seriously? Humans were considered one of the mightiest creatures in this world by these dinosaurs, who themselves were giants?

Then, though, Tormod began to see why his kind would be considered such. Humans were INDEED mighty, and it wasn't just because humans were naturally strong for their size, but it was also because humans could _innovate_. Having spent so many thousands of years fighting each other, humans had, over the years, developed thousands of different ways to kill each other, and this, by proxy, also ensured that they had plenty of methods that allowed them to slaughter like cattle even the mightiest of non-human creatures, like Elephants, Hippos, Rhinos, Lions, Tigers, Bears, Crocodiles, Sharks, Whales, and many others.

"Well, then, that sounds quite flattering." Tormod managed to finally say. "Still, now that I think of it...that is...quite true."

So Tormod carefully climbed off of Kosh, surprising the large Ankylosaur, and walked forward a few meters.

"You see, where I come from," Tormod began, "we humans are indeed the mightiest and the most powerful species around. That is not just because of how numerous my kind is, that is, so numerous that the number is likely too high for you dinosaurs to understand, but it is also because we humans use "tools". Tools are objects that humans use for many things, like finding and gathering food, ...eating food, getting around, and, of course, fighting each other. I know, we humans are terrible neighbors towards each other, but it has had the more positive side effect of allowing for the existence of these certain tools, which we humans call "weapons", and because of them, we can defend ourselves against any other human or creature."

"Now, before you ask," Tormod continued, "I do have a few of these "weapons" with me at the moment."

First, he pulled out what seemed to the dinosaurs to be a strange, curved stick with a white vine attaching the two ends together.

"This one that I have here," Tormod explained, "is called a "bow". You know how you dinosaurs have to get rather close when fighting your enemies? Well, with this thing that I'm holding, we humans don't really have that problem." At that, he then reached into his quiver, and took out an arrow, showing it to the dinosaurs. "Now, this thing that I'm holding may seem like another funny stick to you, but we humans call it an "arrow", and we know it as what we shoot out of a bow."

Tormod then looked around for something that he could shoot the arrow safely into, without risking harm against any of the dinosaurs. Then, he spotted a tree trunk a few meters away. At that, he then nocked the arrow in his bow, and he drew the string back...

 _ ***THWACK***_

...before sending the arrow flying straight into the trunk, and at such a great speed that when the arrow was launched, it startled quite a few of the dinosaurs.

"Now, don't be fooled by the size of it." Tormod told them. "Believe me when I say this: a human with a bow can take down anything, and I mean ANYTHING."

Then, Tormod went over to the trunk and retrieved the arrow, yanking it out and putting it back in the quiver that was on his right hip.

"However," Tormod continued, "that's not the only "weapon" that I use. Nor is it the main one." And then, the dinosaurs all saw the mischievous look on his face.

At that moment, Tormod reached over his left shoulder, putting his right hand on the hilt of his Claymore, and pulled the massive sword out, startling ALL of the dinosaurs, since it looked like he had just pulled a huge, straight, silver claw right out of his BACK, and because the shiny part (which is the steel part) was three fifths his entire height. Combined with the hilt, the claymore was almost as long as Tormod was tall!

"This." Tormod chuckled slightly at how the dinosaurs seemed to be afraid of the giant sword he was now holding with one hand, something that was the original intent of the weapon back when it was used in Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Industrial Scotland. "This...is my MAIN weapon."

At that, he BEGAN to explain what the purpose of the claymore was. "Now, this might remind you dinosaurs of the claws found on the feet of-"

 **"FAST BITER!"**

Tormod was suddenly cut off by screams as the dinosaurs whom he had been demonstrating to suddenly freaked out and pointed at something behind him. What he saw when he turned around made him glad that he had unsheathed his claymore.

When he turned around, he saw something he would later mentally smack himself in the head for forgetting about: a roaring, snarling, bloodthirsty-looking raptor-type dinosaur, probably a Dromaeosaurus, or another type of raptor. Whatever it was, it was also heavily feathered, it had probably snuck in, and it was looking straight at him. However, Tormod was unusually cool about the situation, as he had faced similar situations with bears back in his native Southeast Montana.

"Eh, I guess this is going to be a "live" demonstration, then, oui?" Tormod remarked as he glanced back at the terrified dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs just looked at each other, and then back at Tormod, who rolled his eyes at this before turning back to the Raptor.

At that moment, Tormod raised the claymore up over his head, and began whirling it around and around to get some centrifugal force going. The claymore was a big, heavy blade, and it took someone who could get it moving quickly before it impacted with an object or foe, but Tormod was unusually strong for his age thanks to his little regime at home, so him whirling the blade around above his head was his solution to this problem. For some reason, though, it was easier than normal to do this, but Tormod didn't mind, since it was a big help anyways.

Then came the moment that Tormod was waiting for, when the raptor charged at him. Tormod had positioned himself in a way so that he could just step out of the way, and when he did so, he brought the claymore back around, squarely on the raptor's neck.

 *** _SMASH_ ***

The results were...predictable.

The raptor's neck was severed almost instantly by the force of such a large blade hitting it at such velocity, and the head tumbled away from the body as it hit the ground near the frightened dinosaurs, who took a few steps back. The ground below was stained and splattered red from the blood that was pouring from the body and the head.

"I-I think it's dead now, or is it?" One of the dinosaurs mused nervously, earning a deadpan reaction from Tormod.

"You don't say." Tormod dryly responded. Then, he turned to the severed, still bleeding raptor's corpse, noticing that it looked like a certain bird that would do little except for lay eggs all day, enough for Tormod to make another, quieter, remark. "He thought that playing chicken with me was a bright idea. Too bad we can't cook him..."

The dinosaurs didn't know what Tormod meant by "cook him", but none of them asked Tormod about this, since they were more relieved by the meat-eating dinosaur being dead, and no longer a danger to anyone else.

"Well, that right there was a fine piece of work." Kosh suddenly remarked at the dead raptor. He hadn't been nervous and scared like the other dinosaurs, but he had been worried of what Tormod had put himself through. Even then, he was glad that the raptor was down.

"Indeed, it was." Tormod replied. Then, though, he looked irritably at his claymore, more specifically, the blood on it. "But I just cleaned this thing up yesterday!"

Kosh gave a bit of a chuckle at how Tormod seemed to be missing the point on the whole situation.

Then, Tormod turned to the other dinosaurs, showing them his claymore. "Now you know the purpose of this thing." He pointed at the remains of the dead raptor. "That."

The other dinosaurs gave Tormod a look that said "Okay...".

"Anyways," Tormod said, "that's all for now. At least it was enough so that you all know now that we humans are no myth, and now you see what we're capable of...well, what I'M capable of, anyways. You can all go on with your day now."

The dinosaurs looked at each other, and then, they began to disperse for the time being. Except for Kosh, who stayed long enough for Tormod to get back on his back. Upon getting back on, Tormod was pleased to see that his stuff hadn't fallen off of Kosh's back during the fast biter fiasco.

"Ah, good to see that my stuff stayed on." Tormod noted with relief. "It would have been pretty bad if my stuff had fallen off."

"Well, then, you ready, kid?" Kosh asked.

"Oui, I'm ready." Tormod answered as he settled down on Kosh's back. "Just make sure to take me to a river of some sort so that I can clean this off."

"You got it, kid." Kosh replied.

* * *

Soon, Kosh and Tormod found a river, where Tormod cleaned the blood off the blade of his claymore, and dried it off using a towel that he had in his backpack. Sheathing his blade and putting the towel back in his backpack, he then got back on Kosh, and the two of them got moving again.

For the majority of the day, the two of them were usually moving around, with Kosh finding berry bushes and getting exercise, and Tormod sometimes walking alongside him, but usually riding him, and also eating some of the snacks that had been packed in his backpack. Occasionally, they also met the various dinosaurs from around the area, and while some of them were rather nervous around Tormod, like they had been at the meeting, AND seeing as how he had beheaded a FAST BITER with such ease, they were all willing to let him get to know him, even the more stubborn and suspicious ones, as, by taking out the fast biter, and by confirming the part of the "myth" that said that despite being "halfteeth", humans were the allies of "flatteeth", Tormod had firmly established himself as an ally. And although the dinosaurs didn't know this, Tormod was known by his parents for his extreme loyalty, and he also hated betrayal with a passion, so they would end up being even luckier than they thought concerning him being an ally.

* * *

Later that evening, though, that piece was broken when, as Tormod and Kosh were going back to Kosh's nest, a Pteranodon (which the dinosaurs called a "flyer") swooped down in front of them, looking ragged and pale with fright. Tormod was the first to say something?

"Something wrong?" Tormod asked, a bit worried by the expression on the flyer's face.

"Y-Y-You know about f-f-fast b-biters, r-right?" The Pteranodon stammered. "Y-You know, the one you g-got rid of?"

"Oui, I do." Tormod replied. "Now, what about them did you come to me for? And why are you so frightened?"

"W-Well, t-t-there's...t-t-there's..." The poor Pteranodon was stuttering so hard that he could barely speak. But when he did finally speak, it was something that would have made most dinosaurs around go pale. "T-T-There's a huge group of f-f-fast b-b-biters w-w-waiting outside the v-valley, and-AND THEY'RE GONNA ATTACK US AT ANY MINUTE!"

At first, when Tormod heard this, he couldn't believe it.

"Wait, are you serious?" Tormod asked, surprised. "Did you see how many?"

But what the Pteranodon told him next would have made any normal person go pale.

"T-T-T-THREEHUNDREDOFTHEM!" The Pteranodon shrieked, his words seeming to come out all at once instead of having any audible spaces between them. "ANDTHEYREALLGONNAATTACKUSATANYMOMENT!"

Tormod's reaction was the exact reaction that one would likely have if he or she was going to school, only to realize that they had left their homework, which was due that day, at home.

"Oh, MERDE." Tormod uttered. He was then scrambling for his words. "Alright, alright, I'll-I'll try to deal with it, okay? I promise you, I...I won't let them attack you." Then, though, he managed to pull himself together. "I...will make sure that they're not alive by morning. I'm serious. Just...try to get some rest, okay? This realization must have done a number on you."

The miserable, terrified Pteranodon, shivering with fear, nodded very uneasily, and then only barely managed to take off, presumably to stumble away to his nest. Tormod could only imagine the poor creature sleeping curled up in a ball, fearing that he would not see the light of the next day.

Those thoughts exited Tormod's head when Kosh finally said something. For the first time, Tormod saw that he seemed genuinely afraid.

"Oh, great, we're in deep trouble now, aren't we?" Kosh grimly said.

"Well, maybe." Tormod responded, now seeming dissonantly confident. Kosh could only tell that he was probably thinking something up, as one thing that the elder ankylosaur had learned from being raised by a human was that even an average human was a little smarter than most dinosaurs. It wasn't like dinosaurs were dumb, it was just that humans were naturally at least slightly brighter...if they chose to be such, of course.

Then, Tormod seemed to have gained an idea.

"Hey, Kosh," Tormod asked, "have you ever fought these "fast biters" before? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but still."

"Well, yeah, I've fought plenty of them." Kosh answered. "Why did you ask me that?"

"Well, what i was wondering is this: did any of them ever get overconfident when facing you?"

"Yeah, they did get overconfident and cocky." Kosh replied. "A lot of them, actually. They seem to think that I'm too slow and stupid to defend myself. Of course, they get proven quite wrong when I flatten them."

"Perfect," Tormod told him. "That's part of my plan to take out this enormous pack. Perhaps, during the night, they'll be so confident that their numbers will save them from any would-be threat that they won't even bother having anyone among them keep watch. I'm going to exploit that if that's the case."

"And how will you do that?" Kosh asked him.

"By attacking them at night." Tormod answered.

When Kosh heard this, his jaw dropped at what Tormod was planning up.

"You serious, kid?" Kosh almost shouted, incredulous. "That's when fast biters are hunting!"

"Oui, that's right." Tormod responded. "But every living thing needs to sleep at some point. Besides, as crazy at it sounds, it'll be crazy enough to work, since I've pulled a similar trick on other predators back in my world. Besides, these fast biters definitely haven't faced a human before. They won't know what hit 'em."

After a few long seconds, Kosh finally said something.

"Okay then, kid, go ahead and go along with this plan of yours." Kosh decided. "Just make sure that it works, and make sure you're still alive by tomorrow morning."

"Do your best not to worry, Kosh, I WILL be still alive by tomorrow." Tormod assured him. "Je promets (I promise)."

Just as he was about to get off of Kosh, though, Tormod remembered something. "Hey, so we're in a valley, right?"

"Yes, we're in a valley." Kosh responded.

"Well, if that's the case..." Tormod suggested, "...then how about you stay near the main entrance or exit, if there is any. The fast biters will likely be waiting outside there, and then once I'm done taking them out, you'll be right there when I get back in the valley."

"Alright, we could go with that." Kosh simply said. Tormod's plan was a little too off the wall for him to really criticize, so he decided that he would simply go along with the plan and hope for the best.

So, the two of them went towards the main entrance of the Great Valley, knowing that this was their only chance to save everyone in the valley from being slaughtered by this large pack of fast biters.

* * *

 **Yeah, this chapter and what will be the next chapter, but especially next chapter, will be pretty dark and bloody for even most T-rated TLBT fanfics out there. Because of this, and a few other chapters, if I could, I would rate this story T+ (that is, inbetween T and M).**


	5. The Night Attack

Once Tormod and Kosh got to the main entrance/exit to the valley, the two of them began waiting until nightfall, when Tormod would put his plan into practice. As the sun (or bright circle, as Tormod found out what the dinosaurs called it) went down, anticipation went up, for now, the fates of the dinosaurs in the Great Valley rested in Tormod's hands. Whether they all survived or not would be determined by the success or failure of Tormod's plan. If Tormod's plan succeeded, the fast biter pack would be eliminated, and the dinosaurs of the valley safe. But if it failed, not only would Tormod be dead, but the Great Valley would become the site of a huge massacre.

But as the moon (or night circle, as the dinosaurs once again called it) rose in the sky, the time for Tormod's plan to be put into action came near, and Tormod pulled out his Dirk, the large knife that he had on his left hip, inspecting it, before putting it back. He decided to only wait for a few more minutes before he began his plan.

"You still sure that this is going to work, kid?" Kosh suddenly asked, concerned, making Tormod turn towards him.

"It'll have to, monsieur." Tormod answered him, putting a hand on his side. "This is our only chance to save the valley."

* * *

Outside the valley, on the other side of the wall, waited a large pack of around 300 fast biters, all impetuous and extremely overconfident. They had come to this place, on the slopes of a hill outside what seemed to be the main entrance to the so-called "Great Valley", where they knew hundreds of weak, cowardly flatteeth and their hatchlings lived and fed, because their pack leader had suggested such a target, as it would be very easy. Those foolish flatteeth naively thought that the large wall they lived behind would protect them, but they didn't know that they were about to become food.

Because they were expecting such a huge feast tomorrow, and because of their numbers being so great that they thought that no one would attack them, the pack leader told them all that there was no reason for any one of them to keep watch, since they were in such an unassailable position, and they could just rest up for tomorrow.

Unfortunately for them, they had not incorporated into their plans a certain tiny, but deadly creature who was capable of wiping them all out in their sleep.

* * *

When the time came, Tormod took out his Dirk again, and stood up from where he had been resting next to Kosh.

"Alright, time for me to do this." Tormod said to Kosh, who was still worried about what he was going to do. "I need to do it, Kosh. I'm serious."

"Fine then." Kosh begrudgingly agreed. "Just make sure you come back alive."

"Try not to worry yourself with that." Tormod told him. "I will make sure to come back alive."

And with that, Tormod then went through the entrance, moving slowly and keeping himself to the ground as to not be spotted by any would-be threat.

* * *

Much to his surprise, it didn't take Tormod very long to find the suspected large pack of fast biters. And when he found them, there they were, all 300 of them, sleeping on a moderately steep hillside. However, Tormod's mood changed from begrudging admiration at their large numbers to complete and utter exasperation, as he found out that the fast biters had made a huge tactical mistake, enough to make him pinch the bridge of his nose.

NONE of the fast biters were keeping watch, and ALL of them were asleep. This left them VERY vulnerable to attacks, especially in the night, like this.

Tormod recognized this obvious and stupid mistake from various battles that he had studied back home, most glaringly from San Jacinto, near Houston, Texas. In that battle, the Texans and the Mexicans had been playing the waiting game for a while, waiting for one or both sides to finally attack each other. However, on the morning of the battle, thinking that the Texans wouldn't attack, Santa Anna, the president of Mexico and the leader of the Mexican army on the site, foolishly let his men have a siesta (that is, taking a nap in the middle of the day, though to be fair, it was, and still is, a widespread Latin-American tradition). But then, suddenly, the Texans finally decided to launch a surprise attack, and what directly followed afterwards was a battle that, although lasting only 18 minutes, resulted in the ENTIRE Mexican army of around 1300 getting either killed or captured (Santa Anna suffered the latter fate), with the Texans, numbering around 900, only sustaining 11 dead and 30 wounded. Tormod's knowledge of this battle told him that tonight would have something similar happen.

Either way, Tormod got refocused on his task: to take out all of the fast biters and save the valley from them. This was not going to be an easy task or a short task, for there WERE 300 of them that he was dealing with, and one little slip-up here could get him killed, no, torn apart. So he had to think of a way to deal with them quickly and carefully, for he didn't have all night to do so.

Then, though, he began to piece together an idea for how to take them out. He had a huge knife in his hand right now, and since these fast biters seemed to be about man-sized, he could easily stab or slash the backs of the necks of the fast biters, killing them very quickly, and with barely a sound, that last part being crucial for whether he and the valley survived or not. He knew that this would obviously spill a lot of blood, but he also knew that, like water, blood would pool on flat or nearly flat surfaces. However, these fast biters were sleeping on a slope, so the blood would flow in a thin stream down to the bottom of the hill. That knowledge helped Tormod decide on how he would take the fast biters out: he would start by killing the ones on the bottom, and then work his way up the hill until all of them were dead, and if he was careful enough and did it right, this would be all without them noticing a thing.

With that, Tormod began slowly and silently creeping up on the fast biters, careful not to make a sound or fall over as he did so, as either one could alert the fast biters to what he was doing. It wasn't very long before he reached the first one, that is, the one on the lowest position on the hill. As Tormod approached it, he could see its rib cage expand and contract. Tormod briefly halted at seeing this reminder that the fast biter was a living being too, and quietly sighed at the fact that he would have to kill so many dinosaurs tonight, and dinosaurs were his favorite type of living being. Reluctantly pushing those thoughts aside, Tormod raised his dirk above the fast biter before plunging it downward into the back of its neck. As he had sort of hoped for, the fast biter didn't make a sound as it died, for it died practically instantly. As he expected, blood poured out of the wound, but instead of pooling right here and potentially waking up another fast biter, it harmlessly flowed to the bottom of the hill and pooled down there instead.

Seeing the results from this, Tormod then proceeded to take out all of the other fast biters as well in the same manner, slowly and gradually working his way up the hill, choosing the next lowest fast biter on the hill for each lowest one he killed. During that time, the blood made a small lake at the bottom of the hill, and the dirk's blade's color changed from the clear color of steel to solid red from all of the blood from the stabbing, but for some reason, Tormod found that he wasn't tiring out nearly as fast as he was expecting to.

Finally, after 18 minutes, Tormod finally plunged his dirk into the last remaining fast biter at the top of the hill. He pulled out his knife without a sound, and then looked back down the hill at all of the dead fast biters. They all had knife wounds to the back of the neck, inflicted by him, and their blood was pooling at the bottom of the hill, the pool being so large that it looked like the ground below was being subject to a red flood. All of this made Tormod's victory feel hollow. Taking out 300 fast biters by yourself in one night may have been phenomenal for the dinosaurs of the valley, but it didn't feel that way for Tormod, as, for one thing, he had taken them all out in their sleep, meaning that none of them were able to fight back against him, and for another, he had gotten ABSURDLY lucky, as he had managed to catch off-guard a huge fast biter pack that didn't have any one of them keeping watch, and other fast biter packs likely wouldn't be making the same mistake.

Still, it was promising at the same time, as Tormod had now shown that he was capable of helping with defending the great valley from meat-eaters, something that the plant eaters would no doubt be thrilled by, for they seemed to all have poor morale, and desperately needed a boost in that area.

With that, Tormod then turned around, and began trekking back to the valley. Once he got back, he intended to wash off his right arm, clean off his dirk, and go with Kosh to the latter's nest for the night.

* * *

The whole time Tormod was gone, Kosh was very worried, to the point where he could not sleep. All he was doing at the entrance was sitting down and waiting for Tormod to finally come back, and he waited for a very long time at that. After so long, it was no surprise that Kosh was worrying that Tormod had died.

Then, though, Kosh heard some familiar, small-sounding footsteps, and when he looked up, he saw a more weary-looking Tormod than before walking towards him. To his great relief, Kosh noticed that Tormod, for the most part, looked fine, save for the absurd amount of blood on his dirk and right arm.

"Well, Tormod," Kosh decided to ask, albeit nervous, seeing what they had just been dealing with, "how did it go?"

Tormod's reply was quick and simple, but also snarky.

"I caught them napping." Tormod flatly answered. Then, he quite quickly changed the subject. "Now, I would like to wash my arm off, get to your nest, and hopefully, nothing else happens tonight."

Kosh simply nodded at this: it was a rather...witty answer, but he could go with that.

When Tormod got back on Kosh's back, without having to be asked to, Kosh immediately began walking towards the nearest river, where Tormod could wash off his arm and his knife. Once Tormod did that, he dried his knife off and put it back on his left hip. After that, the two of them went back to Kosh's nest, where the two of them intended to spend the night.

* * *

 **Once again, rated T+ for a reason. I warned you.**


	6. Live And Let Die

The next morning, Tormod and Kosh decided to go tell Mr. Thicknose about what had happened last night. Struck by the magnitude of the previous night's events, Mr. Thicknose actually decided to hold ANOTHER meeting in order to tell the others about it. First annoyed by being called to ANOTHER meeting in the morning, the dinosaurs of the valley became shocked and terrified when they found out how close they all came to being fast biter food, and then became immensely relieved when they found that Tormod, being the brave young man that he was, had taken out ALL of the fast biters by himself, and in a short time in a single night. At that point, pretty much any amount of distrust that the dinosaurs of the valley had was gone, and if any remained, it didn't last long, for the dinosaurs now knew that they had QUITE a powerful new ally and herdmate.

Tormod did eventually have to leave the dinosaur world a few days later, but soon afterwards, he came back. And again. And again. And again. It quickly became clear to the dinosaur residents of the valley that he would definitely keep coming back as far as they knew. And Tormod, much to his delight, found that, in the dinosaur world, for some reason, he didn't age, so he wouldn't have a problem of rapid aging from repeated visits to the dinosaur world.

* * *

In the first month onward from his maiden visit to the Great Valley and its herbivorous dinosaurs, Tormod got well-acquainted with pretty much all of the valley residents, and found himself gaining a self-appointed job of keeping the peace in the valley and protecting it from Sharpteeth (as the valley residents called the larger carnivorous dinosaurs) and fast biters. Despite the bloody latter part of this job, Tormod was very much a friendly and open (if quite snarky) individual with the residents, with him being a dino-nut playing no small part, and he liked to interact with their hatchlings in particular, as he secretly found them positively adorable, and because of their curiosity, and the fact that, for whatever reason, they began talking MUCH earlier than human children did, Tormod had a lot of fun teaching them things that their parents refused to.

Even though he always ended up having to kill them in self defense on encounters with them, Tormod didn't hold any ill will against Fast Biters or Sharpteeth, as he knew that they were just predators that were hunting for food, and that they were just playing the role in life that they were meant to play. It wasn't very uncommon for Tormod to think that, if it had been a different world, these carnivores could have been his friends instead of his foes.

But then, about a month after he first came to the valley, Tormod began hearing about an individual carnivore named "Sharptooth", who had the title of "The Walking Terror of the East". Apparently, Sharptooth was an especially violent, sadistic, and unstable individual who hunted out of a lust for blood, like a serial killer, rather than most other carnivores, who hunted out of the natural need for food.

What worried Tormod was that, by now, he had found out that, in this world, like plant-eating dinosaurs, meat-eating dinosaurs were sapient, and Sharptooth's case meant that there were definitely crazies among the meat-eaters. Even more worrying, though, was that Sharptooth apparently seemed to be a CANNIBAL, something that Tormod hadn't seen among any other meat-eating dinosaur, as he hunted, killed, and even ATE his own kind. Considering all of this possible evidence, it wasn't much of a wonder that Tormod set out to investigate.

This time, Tormod went further out from the valley than usual, and what he then found was heartbreaking. He found a lone Pinacosaurus (a type of ankylosaur) hatchling crying near the corpses of what seemed to be his parents and his siblings. Seeing this hit Tormod with a double whammy. Not only did Tormod feel for the orphaned hatchling, since it reminded him of children in his own world who had been orphaned by either murder or war, as this hatchling was sapient just like him, but he had also never seen so many prey animals wasted so badly before, as they had clearly all been killed, but none of them had really been eaten. Tormod determined that this was likely the work of Sharptooth, which meant that he was in the area.

With a heavy heart, Tormod decided to take the orphaned hatchling with him back to the Great Valley. The journey back to the valley took a few days, and along the way, Tormod and the hatchling encountered a pack of fast biters who seemed eager to kill them. Considering that we've all seen Jurassic Park, this was the end for Tormod, wasn't it?

Wrong. Terribly wrong. The fast biters foolishly decided to go after Tormod first, and this mistake was the end of them, for Tormod, insulted by how the Pinacosaurus' family had been killed by Sharptooth, and then their bodies had been wasted by him, and VERY annoyed by the timing of the fast biter attack, drew his claymore...and killed the fast biters mercilessly. All of them. Even the ones who tried to run. He just ran them down and killed them.

When he got back to the Great Valley, Tormod gave the hatchling to Kosh, who adopted him, and Tormod and Kosh agreed on the new name for the hatchling: Kezik. Ironically, in Tuvan, a language from South Siberia & Mongolia (which is where the Pinacosaurus was found in Tormod's world), "Kezik" meant "happiness" or "luck", whereas this hatchling had neither.

At that point, Tormod had had it with the carnivorous dinosaurs. From that point on, he no longer had any patience for them, and, unless they were hatchlings, Tormod would kill them without a second thought if they so much as looked at him funny. He was determined to find Sharptooth and finally end his reign of terror, prevent anyone else from being killed by him, and he wouldn't let anyone get in his way.

In his subsequent visits, Tormod started growing colder and more distant towards the dinosaurs in the valley. Sure, he would still exchange pleasantries with them quite often, and he was still quite snarky, but his enthusiasm for it faded, and he became a lot more stuffy as a result, to the point where he was practically forcing himself to interact with the other dinosaurs to keep himself caring about them. Even then, his ability to take down carnivores with ease landed him a lot of support with the valley residents, as despite his emotional distance, they could still count on him to defend them from predators, something that, secretly, Tormod was glad about.

As the months passed by, Tormod continued his hunt for Sharptooth, which had become a priority second only to his own survival. Along the way, he saw more and more victims of Sharptooth, and each time, it pained him, as it was yet another victim or group of victims that he felt that he failed to save from the monster.

During that time, of course, Tormod had been slaying many, many carnivores in the process, to the point that, by the time that it had been 2 years since Tormod first visited the dinosaur world, not counting the _300_ that he had slain on his first night there, around 1000 carnivorous dinosaurs were dead by Tormod's sword, and another 200 by his bow. The reason why, now, he was striking down practically every carnivorous dinosaur he saw was that he didn't know which one was Sharptooth, so to be on the safe side, he was killing them all. This strategy of his, along with the ruthlessness with which he did it, made him greatly feared by the carnivores, and among them, he had the nickname of "Tormod The Bloody", and also the title of "The Tiny Terror", and he was aware of both. In fact, he remarked about both to a carnivore that he was about to strike down: "I am Tormod The Bloody. I am The Tiny Terror. By what name will they know you?"

But now, back to the present. Tormod was now, biologically, 16 years old (since, by "2 years" I mean time in the human world), but due to his time in the dinosaur world, and the fact that he didn't age there, he was actually in his early-to-mid 20's, and his maturity showed it. At this point, if emotions were to computers, Tormod's had practically blue-screened, as, outwardly, he now seemed like he had an emotionless expression on his face all the time. The only way that one could gauge how he was feeling now was by how ruthless he was towards carnivorous dinosaurs whenever he fought them, as he was more ruthless towards carnivores on some days than on other days.

Even through all of this, in a seeming violation of common sense (to Tormod, anyways), the valley dinosaurs STILL supported Tormod, despite how obviously troubled he was. However, now, it wasn't just because they knew that they needed him for protection. It was also because they all knew that he was far kinder than he appeared. Whenever Tormod had spare time in the valley (that is, when he wasn't hunting for Sharptooth), and even though he didn't exactly seem the kindest about it, Tormod would indeed do good things for the herd, like solving disputes (by threatening one or both sides), teaching the children (by being a stern, blunt one), and even making decisions for the herd (by dishing out loads of snark and acting like an utterly insufferable genius who seemed to think that he was surrounded by idiots, at times even making the decision without anyone else having a say in the matter).

However, the valley dinosaurs WERE concerned about Tormod's quest against Sharptooth. Not about the morality of it or whether it was safe for Tormod to do so (they all knew that Sharptooth DEFINITELY needed to die, and they all knew that Tormod could handle himself alone outside the valley better than anyone else). Really, what they were actually concerned about was the possibility that Tormod's victory would feel empty to him, as that would mean that he'd ended what he had been doing for 2 years straight, and he would then have nothing else to do.

So, for the first time, the adults among the valley dinosaurs came together to, in a rare occurrence, actually get something done by finding something for Tormod to do once he took down Sharptooth. And it didn't take them terribly long, because one dinosaur came up with the suggestion that Tormod could become the leader of the herd. The previous herd leader had died 5 years before Tormod first came to the valley, and the Great Valley Herd had been leaderless ever since. This, along with the fact that Tormod was a surprisingly good leader, ensured that this suggestion that Tormod become the new leader caught on quickly, and soon, all of the adults were in favor of this. And when they asked Tormod about it, he gave them a flat "I guess I could give you the benefit of the doubt", but they knew that this meant that Tormod didn't have a problem with it.

But once again, let's get back on track here. This time, instead of his grey shirt and brown jeans, Tormod was wearing all black, but he was also wearing two shirts. The reason for that was because in between the shirts was a metal cuirass custom-made by his father (who was a blacksmith and craftsman of ancient and medieval-style weapons and armor), which he was wearing due to a close shave with a raptor on his previous visit. You would think that the cuirass would weigh him down, but it actually didn't, since, by now, Tormod had found out that, here in this dinosaur world, for unknown reasons, he was actually 4 times stronger than he was in the human world. Tormod couldn't ever figure out why, but he found it helpful anyways.

Either way, as usual, Kosh, as well as Kezik, who saw Tormod as a loving, if distant, older cousin (or maybe uncle, due to his actual age), wished him well, and then he set off again to continue his search and hunt for Sharptooth. As was becoming common on his recent visits, no carnivores could be found in a large area around the valley, as the area had become almost devoid of carnivores after Tormod took them all out when they idiotically threatened him.

This visit **WAS** different from the others in a **BIG** way, though.

As Tormod was walking through the mountains around the valley the next day, on the second day of this journey, the ground suddenly started to shake. Here in the dinosaur world, earthquakes weren't uncommon at all, as the land around the valley DID have some volcanic activity. But what made this earthquake different was the sheer size and strength of it. Soon after the earthquake started, a HUGE fissure opened up almost right under Tormod, and he had to dash to prevent himself from falling in it. Landslides happened on the other side of the fissure from him as he watched it happen, and on top of that, for some eerie reason, he could faintly hear screaming, as if someone was falling victim to the earthquake. Tormod, already internally hurt by failing to save plant-eaters from Sharptooth, just tried to tell himself it was just his imagination.

After a while, the earthquake FINALLY stopped, but it was nevertheless one that Tormod would always remember, as it was the longest and most intense earthquake that he had gone through in the dinosaur world. Shaking his head in an attempt to get refocused, Tormod set off again.

As he walked on, though, he eventually began seeing BODIES of plant-eating dinosaurs at the bottom of the new canyon after a few hours. This was eventually too much for Tormod, and he finally stepped away from the edge of the fissure.

* * *

Later in the day, in the evening, it began to rain, and since he knew that, being a human, even he could get sick if he was out in the rain for too long, Tormod went into a cave to spend the night. After checking the cave for any would-be threats, like snakes, spiders, carnivorous dinosaurs, and poisonous insects, he set his backpack down and settled down in the cave.

Tormod had gone through a lot today. He had lived through a gigantic, ground-splitting earthquake, seen dead plant-eaters at the bottom of the newly-formed canyon...and then got rained on. What a day. Even then, his face remained blank as ever, having done so for so long. Despite this, though, he was still stressed out.

It was then that he remembered the lyrics of an old song that he had heard in a movie. The song was "Live And Let Die" by Paul McCartney, and Tormod liked the song, not just because of how catchy it was, but because it also described what he was doing in his situation. The lyrics were like this:

* * *

 _When you were young, and your heart was an open book,_

 _You used to say "live and let live"._

 _(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)_

 _But if this ever changing world in which we live in_

 _Makes you give in and cry..._

 _...say "live and let die"._

 _Live and let die._

 _Live and let die._

 _Live and let die._

* * *

That first part of the song had described what he used to be like, and then how he had coped when he found out about Sharptooth and his killing spree.

The second part of the song, despite being similar, described how he was different now:

* * *

 _You used to say "live and let live"._

 _(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)_

 _But if this ever changing world in which we live in_

 _Makes you give in and cry..._

 _...say "live and let die"._

 _Live and let die._

 _Live and let die._

 _Live and let die._

* * *

After he finished the second part of that song, Tormod then decided to try and go to sleep. As was usual for him and anyone else, sleep was necessary, so he needed all of it that he could get.

Soon after he closed his eyes, though, he faintly heard a sound through the rain that sounded like a child (or hatchling) crying. At first, Tormod tried to ignore it.

"C'est seulement mon imagination (It's only my imagination)." Tormod told himself again.

But then, the sound got louder and louder. And then the sound of footsteps and gravel being moved around became audible as well.

And then, suddenly, the sounds stopped.

Tormod HAD been trying to sleep, and he had just been interrupted by someone deciding to visit him, so he was not happy.

"Really, right now?" Tormod groaned as he opened his eyes and stood up. "You do realize, whoever you are, that I have just been trying to..."

But when Tormod turned around to the cave entrance to see who was there, his voice trailed off when he saw two creatures, one that was a dinosaur, and one that was...no...it couldn't be...but it was! And both of them were looking at him with shocked expressions.

The dinosaur looked to be a very young Apatosaurus hatchling that had reddish-brown skin and red eyes. Not just the color of the irises, but because the young dinosaur looked like he had been crying, as there were tears that were running down from them, and that also explained the sound that Tormod had been hearing.

But the creature that was not a dinosaur looked VERY different, for it had two legs, it stood straight up on them, it had no tail, it was WEARING CLOTHES (a green shirt and some gym shorts to be exact, it was hard to tell what kind the shoes were), it had long, brown hair, it had a BOW slung around its shoulder, it had ocean blue eyes, and it had a necklace that looked almost exactly like Tormod's time stone...no...no...no! It couldn't be!

When he realized just WHAT the creature was, for the first time in a VERY long time, Tormod gained an expression on his face OTHER than a blank one.

"Sacrebleu...another one here too?" Tormod told himself quietly, his voice reeking of disbelief.

* * *

 **Now, we get to the interesting part of the story. Sharptooth gets introduced, Tormod meets a certain longneck and human pair...and Tormod's also become quite an Anti-Hero. I know that it looks like Tormod might be going overboard, but he's faced with a worryingly realistic situation: he has no idea of what Sharptooth looks like, and there are lots of carnivorous dinosaurs around the valley. So, he makes the only decision that will help him: he decides to get rid of every single carnivore that threatens him, the valley, or both, just in case one of them turns out to be Sharptooth.**

 **And if this story had a main theme, then "Live And Let Die" is that theme.**


	7. Littlefoot & Aylene

**Just before I continue the story, I'm going to respond to this review quickly:**

 _Korrasami 88: Indiscriminate killing of carnivores will only harm the ecosystem around the Great Valley_

 **Well, you know, Tormod's worried about other things, like his own survival (since every carnivore he took out had threatened him or otherwise posed a danger to him in some way), the survival of the Great Valley Herd, and taking out Sharptooth, a particularly crazy carnivore who is committing the equivalent of GENOCIDE against flatteeth. Actually, what was really harming the ecosystem around the valley was the presence of too many carnivores (as should be hinted by the abnormally large fast biter pack back in chapter 5, since fast biter packs are usually 20-30 at the max), and some of those carnivores had picked up on the habit of killing just for the heck of it. This killed off all the flatteeth around the valley, and caused the survivors to flee into the valley. So Tormod is unwittingly balancing it back.**

* * *

 ** _Yesterday..._**

 _"Longneck?" Littlefoot narrowed his eyes. This was the first time he had ever been called that. Naturally, he was puzzled about it._

 _"Mother, what's a "longneck"?" he asked._

 _"Why, that's what we are, dear." Helen, his mother, answered as her son climbed onto her head._

 _"Oh." Littlefoot answered rather flatly. He slipped the treestar his mother had retrieved for him back over onto his back. "But why can't I play with that threehorn?"_

 _"Well, we all keep to our own kind." The female longneck explained casually. "The threehorns, the spiketails, the swimmers, the flyers...we never do anything together."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Well, because we're different. It's always been that way."_

 _"Well, why?"_

 _The young longneck wanted to know the reason why different herds refused to do anything together. To him, this separation of different kinds of dinosaurs didn't quite sound right._

 _"Oh, don't worry so much." Helen smiled reassuringly. "When we reach the Great Valley, there will be many, many longnecks for you to play with."_

 _Littlefoot sighed again. He wished that they were there now, but there was also one thing he wished for more than anything._

 _"Littlefoot?" Helen asked when she noticed his sudden mood change._

 _"Well," Littlefoot told her, "it's just...I wish I had a friend."_

 _"Don't worry, Littlefoot." Helen reassured her son. "You'll make many new friends when we get to the Great Valley."_

 _"Still," Littlefoot shrugged (if a sauropod could even do such an action), "I just..."_

 _But he was cut off as, suddenly, an unexpected golden light flashed before the herd of longnecks that was Littlefoot's family. It was so bright that it lit up the entire area and caused the herd to turn their heads away to shield their eyes. As it slowly faded, Littlefoot peeked at where the light had been, and could just barely make out a shape inside it. When the light finally disappeared, the herd stared in surprise and wonder._

 _Face down on the ground was the oddest creature that any of them had ever seen._

 _"Mother..." Littlefoot gasped in utter surprise, "what IS it?"_

 _"I don't know." The adult female uttered, just as surprised as her son, as she bent her neck down towards the creature._

 _Littlefoot slid off of his mother's head and bent his own neck down towards the creature as well. Indeed, it was the strangest creature, or thing, for that matter, that he had ever seen._

 _The skin appeared to be in several different colors, with some parts of it seeming baggy. The creature also had some thin brown reeds growing out of the head. Its arms were unusually long and had five dull things that looked like claws on each hand. In one of them, it seemed to be holding some sort of curved stick with a thin vine holding the two ends together. The legs were also very long and had very odd-looking feet. On the back, there seemed to be some kind of blue bulge with black markings on it, and around the waist, there was something filled with what looked like sticks with some weird stuff attached to the ends of them._

 _"Is it alive?" Littlefoot asked._

 _Helen sniffed the creature. It had an unfamiliar scent that was unlike anything she had ever smelled before._

 _However, she could tell that the creature was still breathing, so it was definitely alive. The longneck then cautiously nudged it with the tip of her snout._

 _A small green glint on the ground attracted Littlefoot's attention. He looked over at the creature and saw that there was a green stone around the neck. He couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like the stone was glowing a little._

 _Suddenly, the creature groaned and winced._

 _"Hey, are you okay?" Littlefoot asked the creature. He didn't know if the creature could talk, but there was a chance that it could. Then, the creature spoke._

 _"I...I think so." The creature wearily answered, her voice giving her away as a female, trying to open her eyes._

 _"Mother! She can talk!" Littlefoot told his mother about his._

 _Clearly confused and disoriented, the creature raised up on her knees, apparently trying to look at Littlefoot. Then, though, she shook her head, and then her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped when she saw Littlefoot. This reaction concerned the young longneck._

 _"You sure you're okay?" Littlefoot asked the creature again._

 _But him speaking to her had an effect on the creature that Littlefoot didn't expect or want._

 _"AAAUUUGGGHHH!"_

 _Littlefoot jumped back in surprised as the creature let out a screech and scrambled away. Her bright blue eyes were wide with terror and Littlefoot was very sure of himself that he saw her face turn white._

 _"D-D-D-Dinosaur!" she stuttered in a panic while pointing at him with one of her dull claws. "D-D-Dinosaur's TALKING!"_

 _Helen brought her head around to push Littlefoot away, but as she was about to do so, she noticed that that hadn't exactly make things better, for the creature now fixed her attention on her. Then, Littlefoot's grandparents, who were Helen's mother and father, came around as well to look at the creature, and they also frightened her._

 _Seeing that his mother and his grandparents were not helping the situation, Littlefoot decided to jump back in._

 _"Mother, Grandma, Grandpa, wait!" Littlefoot told them. "You're scaring her!"_

 _Helen and her parents were surprised by Littlefoot telling them what to do, but they did so. Once they did, Littlefoot came closer to the creature._

 _"Who are you?" Littlefoot asked._

 _"Uhh...I...I...I'm..." The creature stumbled over her words as she seemed to be trying to find a response._

 _Seeing that she was nervous, Littlefoot tried to find a way to calm her down. He did so by wrapping his neck around her to get her to stop wandering around and help her speak._

 _"What's your name?" Littlefoot asked again._

 _"A-Aylene." The creature shakily answered. "My name's Aylene."_

 _"And what kind of creature are you?"_

 _"I...I'm a human."_

 _"Well, it's nice to meet you." Littlefoot told her. "I'm Littlefoot, and I'm a...what did mother call my kind...a longneck."_

 _"Uh...nice to meet you too." Aylene awkwardly responded._

* * *

 ** _Earlier Today..._**

 _A huge frog leaped from the spot it had been sitting on to right in front of a sleeping Aylene and Littlefoot in order to catch a large dragonfly, which it did. But this woke up the two of them, and they were treated to the absolutely horrifying sight...of the large frog's lack of manners, that is, chewing with its mouth open._

 _"Ugh, that's GROSS!" Aylene grimaced at the not-so-pretty sight._

 _Then, the frog began hopping away._

 _"Hey, hopper, come back!" Littlefoot called out at the frog as he ran after it._

 _"Littlefoot, wait!" Aylene also called out, but quietly, as she didn't want to wake up the sleeping adults._

 _Realizing that Littlefoot wasn't paying any attention to her due to being distracted by the frog, Aylene quickly grabbed her stuff and ran after him, trying to put on her bag and her quiver at the same time. She soon found Littlefoot by a cluster of rocks that lead into a decayed tree._

 _"Littlefoot, wait up!" she shouted at him as she ran after him._

 _Suddenly, though, a voice came from inside the log. But it wasn't directed at Aylene. It was directed at Littlefoot._

 _"You again?! Go away!"_

 _Aylene stopped dead in her tracks when a little yellow Triceratops ran out of the log and up towards Littlefoot with an angry face._

 _What struck Aylene was the fact that there was an Apatosaurus AND a Triceratops together at the EXACT SAME time. According to her research, the Triceratops would have come AFTER the Apatosaurus. What exactly were they doing together in the same time frame?_

 _"That's MY hopper!" The young triceratops hissed at Littlefoot, flicking her tail and holding her horn high in the air as she turned away from him._

 _"I saw him first." Littlefoot stated, quite annoyed._

 _"Well, he's in my pond." The Triceratops claimed as she slid down a small slope into what seemed to be some rather mucky water that bubbled._

 _Littlefoot followed the Triceratops, and Aylene, in return, followed Littlefoot. While the young Apatosaurus clumsily slipped down the slope and landed almost directly on top of the Triceratops, the human girl slowly and carefully made her way down so that she wouldn't slip and fall, unlike Littlefoot._

 _As the young Triceratops turned to glare at Littlefoot, she then noticed Aylene.  
_

 _"What are you supposed to be?" She asked in a quite rude tone._

 _"I'm a human." Aylene answered as calmly as she could. "My name's Aylene. Who are you?"  
_

 _"Name's Cera." the Triceratops answered with snobbish pride._

 _Littlefoot was about to say something when, suddenly, Cera saw the reflection of the hopper she was chasing earlier appear in a large bubble. She jumped on it, and it almost instantly burst right under her. Soon, more bubbles rose up, all with the images of hoppers in them, and Littlefoot joined in on pouncing on them._

 _Aylene giggled at the sight of the two playing together in the water. She had to say, it was rather cute to watch._

 _"Hey, this is fun!" Cera admitted as she and Littlefoot continued with their little game._

 _But their fun would not last long._

 _Soon and suddenly, the ground began to shake hard under Aylene's feet, enough to make her gasp, for she knew that this meant that SOMETHING was coming, and it was big._

 _Littlefoot and Cera felt it as well, and all 3 of them searched frantically for the source of the shaking._

 _Then, Cera turned in the direction that the tremors were coming from, and screamed this in absolute terror:_

 _"SHARPTOOTH!"_

 _Littlefoot turned around in the same direction and let out a shriek of his own._

 _There was no mistaking this dinosaur! The most feared dinosaur above any of its kind, the one that gave meat eaters their name among the leaf eaters, was heading in their direction! And if his kind was to humans, then he was to Attila, Timur Lenk, and Joseph Stalin put together!_

 _Aylene herself couldn't help but shriek in terror, for what was approaching her was the biggest Tyrannosaurus Rex she had ever seen! Even worse, this one had SKIN on it, and it was ALIVE!_

* * *

Aylene and Littlefoot trudged through the heavy rain towards a cave, broken, demoralized, and frightened. They were both still reeling over what had happened today.

Yesterday had gone alright, for although Littlefoot's first meeting with Cera hadn't exactly gone well, Aylene's appearance, although sudden, made up for it, for Littlefoot had managed to befriend the young human very quickly (although that was because Aylene was pretty much stranded here).

Today, however...was an utter disaster, to put it mildly. The two of them met Cera again, but this time, it had been going better. Well, HAD been, anyways. As Littlefoot and Cera had been inexplicably playing together, suddenly, a huge T-Rex by the name of Sharptooth had shown up, and proceeded to attack the three. After a short chase, Littlefoot's mother had stepped in, driving Sharptooth back briefly, and managing to hold her ground against him, giving the three time to escape from him. But that's when things got worse, because while Sharptooth was being held back, a MASSIVE earthquake suddenly struck. It was massive, and it opened up many, many cracks in the ground, including a particularly huge one that seemed to split the land in two. Worse still, this earthquake had distracted Littlefoot's mother, allowing Sharptooth to brutally attack her and tear pieces of flesh off of her back. Though the force of the earthquake soon made Sharptooth fall off of her and into one of the cracks, presumably to his death, the damage was still done, and she now had several huge wounds on her. The earthquake eventually split Littlefoot and Aylene from the former's mother, and then they proceeded to spend most of the rest of the day looking for her.

When they finally did find her again, Littlefoot's mother was dying from her horrific injuries, and even as Littlefoot begged her to get up, there was not much that either he or Aylene could do, for she died soon after they found her, with her last words begging Littlefoot to let his heart guide him.

Now, as they stumbled towards the cave, Aylene's tears had run dry, but she wanted to let them fall again, for she felt that it was her fault . Littlefoot's were still falling.

But as they came to the entrance of the cave and looked in, Aylene was shocked silent when she saw something that she DID NOT EXPECT AT ALL to see here in this world of dinosaurs. Littlefoot saw it too, and was so floored by what he saw that he stopped audibly crying.

Resting against the wall inside the cave was ANOTHER human!

And almost immediately after they spotted the human, they watched the human get up from where he was resting, the irritated, low-pitched voice and the short hair revealing him to be a guy, and judging by that low but still young-sounding voice, he was either an older teen or a young adult.

"Really, right now?" The human male muttered, his voice having an odd accent that sounded like a Scottish accent mixed with something else. "You do realize, whoever you are, that I have just been trying to..."

But as the human turned around and saw them, he seemed almost as startled as they were, as he likely hadn't been expecting to see another human either.

"Sacrebleu...another one here, too?" The human male asked himself in disbelief.

The two sides stared at each other in awkward silence, neither Aylene nor Littlefoot being able to put words in their mouths to speak, and the human male seemed to be unable to do so as well. This continued for a short while.

* * *

Finally, after a minute, the silence between Tormod, the Apatosaurus hatchling, and the girl was finally broken when the girl finally said something.

"You-You're another...human...right?" The girl nervously asked, her voice giving Tormod the impression that she was a younger teenager.

Normally, if it was a dinosaur, Tormod would have responded to that question quickly and confidently. But around humans...well, Tormod didn't exactly have the same level of confidence around humans as he did around dinosaurs. So his response now was...rather awkward.

"Err...o-oui...I...I am another human." Tormod stuttered briefly. Then, though, he noticed that the girl and the hatchling were now soaking wet. "Erm...why exactly are you two still standing out there in the rain? You...you're both soaking wet. You...do realize that both of you can...come in...right?"

At that, the two of them came in, their shocked expressions giving way to sad, depressed, and traumatized expressions.

"Who...who are you?" The hatchling choked out with an tone of fear.

"My name...my name's Tormod." Tormod managed to introduce himself. "And...you two?"

"Littlefoot." The Apatosaurus hatchling sniffed.

"Aylene." The girl sadly replied.

It didn't take Tormod very long to determine that something was terribly wrong with these two.

"It...looks like something...terrible has...happened to you two." Tormod pointed out. He then stretched his arms out to them. "Come here."

Aylene and Littlefoot both seemed very hesitant about coming closer to him, and, initially, didn't move.

"Come here." Tormod encouraged them. "I...I won't harm you. I...promise."

After a bit of nervousness, the two of them began walking towards him, albeit slowly. When they both got close enough, Tormod suddenly wrapped his arms around them and pulled them into a badly-needed hug. Aylene and Littlefoot seemed surprised by this, but they were too exhausted to resist, and they let him do so. In fact, they seemed to appreciate it after a few moments.

Tormod continued embracing the two of them for another minute, and then, after that, he sat the two of them down against the wall, with Aylene resting on Littlefoot's side. Then, he knelt down beside them, and decided to ask them what happened.

"So...what exactly went wrong today?" Tormod asked. "Did...did you two get...separated from someone?"

"That's...putting it _lightly_..." Littlefoot groaned.

"While I was watching Littlefoot playing with a little Triceratops named "Cera", this...giant... called "Sharptooth"...attacked us." Aylene fought through her tears to explain what had happened to Tormod. "He...he was chasing us and trying to kill us and...eat us! Then, Littlefoot's Mother...she stepped in to try and save us from him...but then a huge earthquake struck, and Sharptooth...he jumped on her and...tore pieces off of her back before falling into the crack in the ground. And then, when we found her next, she was...almost dead...and after she said a few words...she...she...she...died!" Then, she said something that made it clear that she thought that she was to blame for the death of Littlefoot's mother. "And...it's all my fault because I had a bow and I could have shot the monster...but I didn't!"

Tormod was both angered and saddened by what he heard. Angered because, well, it was SHARPTOOTH, and he had murdered yet ANOTHER dinosaur who did not deserve her death, and saddened because Aylene blamed herself for something that was not her fault.

"Oh, FOUTRE!" Tormod muttered rather loudly, burying his face in his right hand. "Not again."

Once he un-buried his face, after a short period of silence, he finally spoke again. But this time, he wasn't stuttering or pausing, like he had been doing earlier due to his lack of confidence around other humans.

"Look, lass, the death of Littlefoot's mother was not your fault." Tormod bluntly told her. "You see, when a human, or a dinosaur, or any creature, for that matter...when they experience something scary that they haven't ever experienced before, do you know what they do? They run. That's what happened with both you and Littlefoot, and you just happened to forget the fact that you had a bow on you. You wouldn't have been able to stand a chance against him anyways, because neither of you are strong enough, fast enough, big enough, skilled enough, or let alone brave enough to be able to last against someone like him for more than a few seconds. So perhaps it was better than you two ran." Then, he turned to Littlefoot. "And yes, lad, that also means that the death of your mother was not your fault, either."

"However," he added, speaking in a more serious tone now, "you were right to call Sharptooth a monster, Aylene. Thing is, Sharptooth...well, he's the most messed up dinosaur of his kind that I've ever seen. Not to mention the most evil. You see, while most meat-eating dinosaurs hunt only out of the need for food, Sharptooth hunts and kills because it gives him pleasure. And it gives him pleasure because he seems to hate every single living being that isn't him, and wants to see them suffer. And just because of that, he wants to kill, kill, and kill even more. I've also noticed from afar that Sharptooth also seems to be incredibly arrogant and vain, as he seems to believe himself invincible, and whenever someone slights him in any way, like damaging his sense of invincibility by striking him in self defense, he just wants to kill them even more. In general, what you need to know is that Sharptooth is out there. He can't be bargained with; he can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, remorse, or, as of yet, fear. And he absolutely will not stop, EVER, in his quest for bloodshed...until someone forces him to by killing him."

Then, after a brief pause, he finished up what he was saying.

"And killing Sharptooth and ending this enormous murder spree of his is something that I've been focusing on for a long time." Tormod almost growled, clearly angered by what Sharptooth had become. "I've focused on it almost ever since I first came here. Now, I know that you know this already Aylene, but Littlefoot, this is something you NEED to know: in any being that has sentience, that is, any being that has the ability to talk and think like a human, or a dinosaur, in this case, there is always the capacity for evil. Individuals who are evil EXIST, and there are many among my kind, humans, alone. Let me give the names of a few of the worst ones: Elizabeth Bathory, Talaat Pasha, Josef Mengele, Reinhard Heydrich, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Eichmann, Maximilien Robespierre, Kim Il Sung, Ayatollah Khomeini, Nero, Caligula, Attila The Hun, Timur Lenk, Leopold The Second, Tomas De Torquemada, Mao Zedong, Ivan The Terrible, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Vlad Dracula. And the thing is, Littlefoot, Sharptooth is just like them. Sharptooth IS evil. And he needs to go down. And he will go down, for I will make sure that your mother did not die in vain. I promise you this."

At hearing this, Littlefoot laid his head in Tormod's left hand, and Tormod gently stroked him with his other hand. Then, Tormod looked at Aylene, who, after a few seconds, slowly nodded her head at him. This told Tormod something that he was glad to know: Littlefoot and Aylene both trusted him, and they were willing to put their lives in his hands so that he could help them survive.

After a while, Aylene and Littlefoot eventually fell asleep, despite what Tormod was expecting. Once they were asleep, Tormod wrapped Littlefoot's tail around Aylene, and then did the same thing with the young Apatosaurus' head and neck. He then put Aylene's right arm around Littlefoot's head. Once he did that, he stepped back and looked at the pair. Now, they looked like they were comfortable.

Satisfied, Tormod then laid down himself near them, and after a few minutes, went to sleep for the night, knowing that, starting in the morning, he would begin the journey back to the valley with these two, which would likely take a few days.


	8. A Bloody Vow

**Once AGAIN, I have to respond to a review from the same person as last time that distracts from the overall story:**

 _Korrasami 88: I'm not sure about dinosaur ecology, but removal of predators from an ecosystem causes prey populations to grow large, eventually causing an ecological collapse_

 **This is going to be the first time that I've said this (and hopefully the only time), but I really hate "reviews" like these that nitpick about little things and ignore the rest of the story. I already explained the situation in the story: there were TOO MANY predators, and that cause the prey population to drop severely, and Tormod striking all the predators down balanced the ecosystem again, whether he intended it or not. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, Korrasami, then look up "Too Many Predators, Too Little Prey". That will explain the situation in the story: if the predators become too numerous or too skilled, the prey is driven to extinction, which can also cause an ecological collapse.  
**

* * *

Whenever Tormod slept these days (or nights, should I say), he was often wracked by nightmares. This was, in large part, due to all of the stuff that he had gone through in his hunt for Sharptooth, as he had seen the bodies of so many of Sharptooth's victims, victims that Tormod had failed to save from that monster. Needless to say, it made it quite hard for poor Tormod to sleep.

This time, though, Tormod didn't have a nightmare, or anything close to it. This time, it was a dream, but not just any dream. It was something akin to a vision.

* * *

 _Tormod found himself walking through a beautiful, green, wide open steppe plain, reminiscent of some of the various landscapes that he had seen in pictures from places like Mongolia, Northern China, Southern Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The grass was moving in the wind like waves in the sea, and there was barely any clouds in the sky. The conditions, to put it mildly, were picturesque._

 _As he walked along, though, he eventually spotted a Central-Asian-Style tent (a Ger, as the Mongolians called it, and a Yurt, as the Turkic peoples called it) when he came over one of the many rolling hills. Initially, it didn't seem out of the ordinary, as it told him that he was definitely in Central Asia, or an area like it, due to the style of the tent. But as he came close to the tent, something seemed different about it. For one thing, this tent was much larger than most, perhaps 2 or 3 times as large. As he had read up on in books and articles, a bigger tent usually meant that the person owning it was of great importance. But that usually meant that the owner of the large tent was a Khan or Chieftain, so that large tent would normally be surrounded by many smaller tents. This one...was all on its own. And there was one herdsman outside the tent managing a small horse herd._

 _Wanting to find out what this large tent was doing out in the middle of nowhere, with only this one herdsman around, Tormod began coming closer. As he approached the herdsman, he was thinking about the risks and consequences. He knew that in Central Asia, rustlers were a problem for any herder, so herders were usually adept at using the bow to defend the herds that they managed, so there was the chance that he could be shot. On the other hand, hospitality was an important part of Turkic and Mongolian cultures, so if he approached the herdsman right, then the man would likely welcome him. What Tormod was about to do or consider doing was a risk. A big risk._

 _And he took it._

 _"Sir?" Tormod called out._

 _The herdsman must not have heard him, as he didn't reply._

 _"Sir!" Tormod called out again, louder._

 _This time, the herdsman heard him. As Tormod hoped, he was not hostile._

 _"What is it, young man?" The herdsman asked back, surprising him with his English, when Tormod expected Mongolian or one of the Turkic languages. Of course, though, it was in an East-Asian accent._

 _"Just curious," Tormod answered, "who owns that tent over there? You, or someone else?"_

 _"My Khan owns that tent." The herdsman replied. "I am managing his horses. Do you wish to visit him?"_

 _"Yes, I do." Tormod responded. "Though it depends on whether I am welcome to visit him or not."_

 _Then, though, a voice came from the tent. It had the same East-Asian accent, but it was old and gravelly._

 _"That would be "yes"." The voice told Tormod. "Come in."_

 _Tormod, who had turned to look at the tent when he heard the voice, turned around to the herdsman again, who nodded his head and went back to managing the horse herd. Tormod then turned back around to the tent, and went towards it again. Though he hesitated a little when he got to the entrance of the tent, he finally stopped hesitating, and slowly lifted the flap. What he saw inside stunned him silent._

 _Inside, the tent was decorated beautifully, with valuable-looking animal skins and colorful textiles on the "walls" of the tent, in a sharp comparison to how...boring it looked on the outside. At the back of the tent was a throne like seat, and there was an elderly man, looking to be in his mid-60's, with a gray beard and his hair mostly black, but also starting to gray. He was wearing a cream-colored coat made of furs that he no doubt got from hunting on the steppe, and he wore a conical brown hat with fur visible at the edges, a very common piece of Central Asian headwear. Next to his throne was bow, a quiver with arrows in it, a sword in its scabbard, and a set of armor. This old man was definitely a Khan (a Central Asian chieftain), or a Khagan (akin to an Emperor)._

 _"Welcome." The old man greeted, getting Tormod's attention._

 _At this, Tormod stepped inside the tent, letting the flap fall closed behind him._

 _"You called for me to come in?" Tormod asked._

 _"Yes, I did." The old man answered. " I've been waiting for you, and now that you're here, we can talk. It is about you, so do your best not to ask why I know about you already."_

 _At this, Tormod wanted to roll his eyes or raise an eyebrow in suspicion, but he decided not to, for the sake of hearing what the old man was going to say._

 _"I know that, for the past few years, you have experienced little good and much trouble in the world of dinosaurs that you frequent." The old man began. "You have tasked yourself with a bloody and perilous mission: to finally fell Sharptooth, the beast that is the most evil of his kind to have ever existed. He is a vain, arrogant, haughty being who thinks that he can kill as much as he wants to, and that none can stop him. Because of him, there are mountains of bones and bodies surrounding the valley that you protect, all belonging to his victims, who are of the same kind of creatures as those that live in your valley. And this has spurred you to become fully committed to this mission of yours."  
_

 _"Wait..." Tormod interrupted, "you're going to tell me that it's a bad thing for me to do and that I need to give it up for the sake of "forgiveness", right?"_

 _At this, the old man let out a short laugh, making Tormod tilt his head to the side in confusion. Then, the old man gave his reply._

 _"Good try, but that was not what I was trying to tell you." The old man told him. "I do not have a problem with someone rightfully taking vengeance on an individual who has wronged them. And that is because I myself am known the world over for doing just that."  
_

 _Tormod listened as the old man continued._

 _"As the leader of the great Mongol People," The old man explained, the world "Mongol" giving Tormod a small hint as to who the old man was, "I have taken revenge on those who have wronged me ever since I was young. I took revenge on the Tatars for poisoning my father and causing me and my people so much misery, the Merkits for stealing my wife, my former blood brother, Jamukha, for betraying me, the Chinese for trying to use the Tatars to bring us under their dominion, the Tanguts for imprisoning me in their city when I was younger, Kuchlug and the Naimans for attempting to create disunity, and the Persians for killing my merchants, and then beheading one of my emissaries and shaving the beards of the other two."  
_

 _This told Tormod who this old man really was. Who conquered the Tatars, the Merkits, the Jin Chinese, the Tanguts, the Naimans, and the Khwarezmid Persians, and who defeated a former best friend by the name of Jamukha in battle? Take a wild guess._

 _"Jamukha..." Tormod thought, "...that was the name of the former best friend of the man known as "Genghis Khan". And Genghis Khan's real name...was Temujin."_

 _"Pardon me, sir," Tormod spoke up, "but I think that I might know who you are."_

 _"And just WHO do you think I am?" The old man asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _For a few seconds, Tormod hesitated at this question. Then, he answered it._

 _"Do you have the name "Temujin"?" Tormod asked his own question as an answer. "Because I've heard of you, but you're commonly known as "Chinggis Khan"."_

 _The old man look surprised for a few seconds, apparently astonished at how Tormod was able to guess his identity, before smiling._

 _"So you managed to guess who I really am." The old man responded, impressed. "I AM Temujin, the greatest leader of the Mongol people."_

 _With his identity having been determined by Tormod, Temujin went back to what he was talking about earlier._

 _"Now, as I was saying earlier," Temujin continued where he had left off, "taking revenge on Sharptooth is not a bad thing, and it appears that it's something that you need to do." But then, he gained a serious look on his face. "However, there is something that I want you to do once you have gained that revenge."  
_

 _"And what is that?" Tormod asked._

 _"It concerns who will lead the herd." Temujin answered. "As of now, the herd that you devote your strength to protect is leaderless. That is a problem, for, like men, dinosaurs need a leader to band together under if they want to all survive. For example, take the instance of the 300 oversized chickens that were attempting to attack the herd when you discovered them on your first night in the valley. If you hadn't come to this world of dinosaurs, then, the next morning, the herd would have been thrown into panic, and easily slaughtered. You were the only reason why they survived."  
_

 _Tormod nodded grimly at this. Temujin was right, he was the only reason why the herd survived that night and the next day._

 _"So because of that," Temujin told him, "this is what I want you to do: to accept their offer to make you their herd leader once Sharptooth has fallen. There is a good reason for this: you are the best possible herd leader in that valley that the herd could have. Against the predators that attempt to attack the herd, you are fearless, and you always win when you fight them, as none of them have ever fought a man before and survived. You are also quick and decisive in your decisions, able to make the decision in divisive matters to prevent too much of a rift between various members of the herd forming. And almost all of the herd respects you, for practically none of them, save for a few juvenile delinquents, are willing to insult you or challenge you whenever you make a decision."  
_

 _After a few seconds of pondering it over, Tormod gave his response. "I shall take your advice to heart."_

 _"Good." Temujin replied. "It is welcoming to see that you are willing to lead your herd, for while one kind of dinosaur is like a single arrow, easily broken, many types of dinosaurs that have banded together are like an entire quiver's worth of arrows: they can never be broken." Then, Temujin wished him well. "Good luck with leading your herd."  
_

 _"You too, Temujin." Tormod responded. "Thank you."  
_

 _With that, Tormod turned around, walked back to the "door" of the tent, and lifted the flap to exit._

* * *

At that moment, Tormod woke up. It wasn't sudden or like he was waking up from a nightmare, just a normal waking up for him, if rather sudden.

"Well, I guess I'm up." Tormod quietly told himself.

When he got up to his knees and stood up, Tormod grabbed his backpack and put it on. It didn't weigh that terribly much, since he had enough stuff in it to survive his ventures outside the valley, and not much else, but he was much stronger here in the dinosaur world than in the human world anyways, so even if he had a lot of stuff in it, he wouldn't have had too much trouble.

Once he had his backpack on, Tormod turned around to check on Littlefoot and Aylene to see if they were either awake and waiting for him, or still asleep, and he guessed that it would most likely be the latter. As he expected, they were still asleep, but Tormod was worried, for their smiles from last night when they went asleep were gone now, and he was hoping that they weren't having nightmares, which was a large possibility, considering what they had gone through yesterday.

Then, he went to the cave entrance and did a few stretches to wake the rest of his body up. Right now, it was in the morning, obviously, but it didn't feel too hot or too cold. However, something felt off. Something that prevented the air from feeling comfortable to Tormod. It was a very familiar feeling, one that came whenever there was another dinosaur that was dead at Sharptooth's maw. At this, Tormod turned around and looked at Aylene and Littlefoot again, who seemed to be uncomfortable as they slept. Littlefoot had told him last night that his mother had been killed by Sharptooth. Perhaps that was why Tormod was now feeling that certain feeling again: the body of Littlefoot's mother was nearby. This reminded Tormod yet again of why he needed to take down Sharptooth: that abomination was killing FAR TOO MANY dinosaurs, both carnivores and herbivores, and it was destroying the local environment, as many plants actually needed herbivores in order to spread their seeds, as they bore fruit, and those seeds spread out through the herbivores'...droppings...if there were any herbivores around. If herbivores weren't around, which, thanks to Sharptooth, was often the case, then the seeds from a single plant of these fruit bearers would end up all next to each other, and this would prevent them from getting all the nutrients that they needed in order to grow, killing them, and withering them away, rendering the area devoid of plant life.

This feeling now strong in him, Tormod looked outwards from the cave entrance, and he eventually saw what appeared to be the outline of a Sauropod lying on the ground a fair distance away. Seeing it gave Tormod a realization:

 _Hold on, is that Littlefoot's Mother?_

After looking at the shape for a few seconds, he decided to go check it out to see if it was Littlefoot's mother. Now, normally, leaving Aylene and Littlefoot asleep in the cave would be a bad idea, since there would usually be carnivorous dinosaurs and other carnivorous creatures on the prowl. However, in this case, Tormod had pretty much killed everything carnivorous in a large area around the Great Valley during his search for Sharptooth so far, understandably when the carnivores tried to attack him. So because of this, leaving Littlefoot and Aylene in the cave was pretty safe to do. And with that, he began walking towards the Sauropod.

The Sauropod was a ways away, so it took a few minutes for Tormod to get to her. Then again, right now, he wasn't in much of a hurry due to the lack of presence of Carnivores. As he got close to the Sauropod, he could begin to identify her features. She was an Apatosaurus, just like Littlefoot, and also had the same skin color as her: brown. Then, Tormod walked up to her head once he was there, and opened the Apatosaurus' eyes. The Apatosaurus definitely appeared to be dead, and for at least since last night, so the eyes were glazed over, but Tormod could tell that they were red, just like Littlefoot. This brought Tormod to a conclusion: she probably WAS Littlefoot's mother. However, Littlefoot had told him that she had been killed by Sharptooth, so Tormod walked around the Apatosaurus' head so that he could check for proof of a-

And there it was. A big, gaping hole in the skin on the Apatosaurus' back. It appeared to be the only wound on her, but Tormod knew that it would be large enough to cause a double whammy of death by infection and bleeding to death. This told Tormod that Sharptooth had purposely only made this singular, large wound just so that Littlefoot's mother could suffer as she died. Tormod shook his head at this, since this sort of malice and sadism would only really exist in someone as insane, as violent, and as malicious and legitimately evil as Sharptooth was.

Tormod then walked back around to where the front of the head, the face, was. That face had an expression of pain and agony plastered onto it, which, for Tormod, told him how this Apatosaurus died: in a slow, painful, agonizing way. It hurt to look at that sobering expression of death, but Tormod looked at it for a while anyways. Finally, though, after a few minutes, he bowed his head at the sight, and then began speaking as if the Apatosaurus were still alive and could hear him, even though she was not either.

"It's such a shame that a dinosaur as beautiful as you would be slain by Sharptooth, and your beauty tarnished by him in the process." Tormod told the dead Apatosaurus. "Forgive me for not coming earlier and slaying that abomination before he could murder you and render your child an orphan."

After saying that, Tormod was silent for another minute. Then, he spoke again, but this time, with conviction.

"I will not let you die in vain." Tormod promised. "I may have failed you, but I will not fail Littlefoot. If you and him were coming through here because you were going to the Great Valley, I will make sure that she and her human friend get there. And I will strike down any predator that would threaten her, even Sharptooth himself if I encounter him. And as for him, I will put it this way: carnivores must only hunt out of the need for food. I will make them obey that rule, even if I have to kill half of them. But what is certain is that Littlefoot. Will. Make. It. I promise you this."

With that, Tormod turned around and began walking back towards the cave that Littlefoot and Aylene were in, but not before looking at the dead Apatosaurus adult one last time. He WOULD avenge her, and put an end to Sharptooth's reign of terror.

* * *

 **Yep, on the first part of this chapter, Tormod's dream was of him meeting Genghis Khan.**

 **And on the second chapter, I know that Tormod is suddenly thinking that Littlefoot is a girl, rather than a boy, but that's because Tormod is not a morning person, and because of that, in the mornings, he's often not quite thinking right. Then again, it would be rather easy to mistake Littlefoot for a girl in some of the TLBT movies anyways, especially in TLBT 14, the most recent one. That's because of his mellow personality, the fact that he has eyelashes, which, with dinosaurs in TLBT, almost always only appears in females, and then his voice, especially, once again, in 14. This has a rather amusing consequence next chapter.  
**


	9. Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Tormod had definitely been hoping that Littlefoot and Aylene weren't having nightmares, for he himself had them a lot due to the events that he had gone through, and hated them with a passion. However, when he finally got back to the cave, he may have seen Aylene and Littlefoot physically safe, psychologically, they were far from being so. Why?

Because, of course, they were having a nightmare, as evidenced by their tossing and turning, and them sounding like they were crying and muttering things in their sleep.

"Vraiment (really), a nightmare? Right now?" Tormod grumbled as he went over to the two to wake them up and end their nightmares.

When he got to them, he bent down to Aylene and shook her to wake her up. To his luck, it seemed to have an immediate affect.

* * *

Having just been in a nightmare, Aylene woke up with quite a start, gasping and shaking. She had just had a nightmare where Sharptooth was chasing her and Littlefoot, when she got stuck in quicksand, and when she attempted to shoot Sharptooth with her bow, it exploded into pieces, leaving her defenseless. She had then begged Sharptooth, who, for some reason could speak, to kill her instead of Littlefoot, wanting the young Apatosaurus to live, but Sharptooth had responded by mockingly assuring her not to worry, for she was next.

And then, she felt something shaking her, which woke her up, and the only thing that prevented her from freaking out was seeing that it was a human's arm that was shaking her. When she blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision, she saw that the arm belonged to Tormod. That's when the shaking stopped.

"Are you awake now?" Tormod asked in his familiar gravelly voice.

"Yeah, I-I-I am." Aylene stammered a little, slightly dazed from having just woken up. But then, she heard whimpering coming from behind her, and it didn't take her long to figure that Littlefoot was still asleep, and was also having a nightmare. "But he isn't..."

At this, Tormod turned his attention to Littlefoot, and, as Aylene watched, he put his hand on the portion of the young Apatosaurus' neck right below the head. The moment he did this though, Littlefoot jolted awake, letting out a yelp as he did so, and, at this, Tormod jerked his hand back like he had just been trying to touch a rattlesnake.

"And I assume that you're awake as well?" Tormod asked Littlefoot.

Once he figured out what was going on, Littlefoot raised his head enough to nod a few times.

At this, Tormod helped the two of them up to their feet, astounding Aylene with his strength again. Now that she got a good look at him while the two of them were standing, Aylene was internally surprised by the fact that, despite sounding like he was about as old as Derek, her 18-year-old big brother, or perhaps even older, Tormod looked to be about two inches shorter than her. Maybe he was slow in the growing department?

"How about you go get your stuff on, Aylene." Tormod suggested.

" _You read my mind!_ " Aylene exclaimed internally as she went over to grab her stuff and put it on.

But once she had her backpack on, she then picked up her bow, and that was when the nightmare returned to her. But what Tormod said next snapped her back out of it.

"Aylene," Tormod told her, "if we ever encounter Sharptooth again, just shoot that monster. I don't care whether you shoot him in the head, the body, the legs, or the tail. Just shoot him, and don't hesitate."

"...got it, Tormod." Aylene finally replied after a few seconds of silence.

" _Hey, he doesn't seem to be awkward now._ " Aylene thought to herself, having noticed that Tormod's awkwardness with her earlier was gone.

But then Tormod said something...awkward.

"Alright then," Tormod told Aylene and Littlefoot, "come on, girls."

And then came Littlefoot's reply.

"Uh, Tormod, I'm a boy."

At this, Tormod, who was about to start walking towards the entrance of the cave, was startled. "QUOI?" And then he realized his blunder, and did a rather loud facepalm. "Oh, not again."

" _Never mind._ " Aylene internally said to herself.

* * *

Again. AGAIN. This ALWAYS had to happen. One minute, he would be socializing with others just fine, and then a social blooper would come the next. This one may have been a small one, but a Social Blooper was still a Social Blooper, and he hated them all the same.

"Uh, Tormod, are you okay?" Tormod heard Littlefoot ask. When Tormod decided not to respond, Littlefoot asked again. "I said, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tormod curtly answered. "It's just that, sometimes, I cannot seem to keep my foot out of my mouth."

Littlefoot sounded a little confused by what Tormod just said. "Wait, what? "Foot in mouth"? Your foot doesn't look like it's in your mouth to me."

"It's a saying for when someone says something awkward." Aylene explained to Littlefoot.

"Oh, I get it." Littlefoot responded to Aylene's explanation. Then he turned his attention back to Tormod. "You were talking about how you called me a girl, right?"

"Oui, I was." Tormod answered. "Though, to be honest, it's easy to mistake you for one, because you have the physical appearance of one, you have eyelashes, which usually only appear on female dinosaurs (and how do dinosaurs gain eyelashes in the first place?), and then there's your personality, so there you go. Also, it's the morning. I'm not a morning person, so don't be surprised if I don't seem to function as well at this time."

"...Okay then." Littlefoot replied.

"Well, anyways," Tormod told them again, "let's get going. I've got somewhere to go, and I think you know where." Then, after a few seconds of no response from Littlefoot and Aylene, he added: "Give up? It's the Great Valley, if you've heard of it."

"Oh, uh, we were going there too!" Aylene exclaimed, startled by what Tormod just said.

"Good." Tormod simply answered. "Let's go."

And with that, Tormod led them out of the cave and into the land outside, and three of them began their journey to the great valley.

...

For the first few minutes of the journey, it was pretty quiet, with the loudest sound being the footsteps of Tormod and Littlefoot, as Aylene, who was the kind of person who felt weak after waking up from a nightmare, was riding on Littlefoot until she had enough strength to walk on her own. Meanwhile, Tormod, having noticed that Littlefoot seemed very depressed (and understandably so, considering what he had just gone through the night before) and lacking in motivation, made sure that the young Apatosaurus didn't fall behind by wrapping his arm around Littlefoot's neck, so that Littlefoot kept at the same pace as him. It was also to keep him company, since Tormod knew that if he had been in what had become his 'usual self' by now (that is, cold, snarky, and foul mouthed, and I mean Tormod, not Littlefoot), then it wouldn't be helpful for Aylene or Littlefoot.

But the silence was finally broken when Littlefoot seemed to get curious about something on Tormod's back.

"Hey, uh...Tormod?" Littlefoot asked hesitantly. "What's that thing on your back?"

Tormod was silent for a few seconds as he processed how to answer that question. At first, he thought that Littlefoot was referring to his backpack, but then he remembered that Aylene had one as well. So then, he figured that Littlefoot was referring to his...oh yes...OH YES.

For the first time in a long time, Tormod actually had a feeling of confidence as he stepped away from Littlefoot and walked about 3 yards away.

And then, Tormod began pulling his massive blade out of its sheath. He wasn't looking at them, but he was guessing that Aylene and Littlefoot had looks of shock and awe on their faces as he did so. Once he had gotten the blade out, he then did a spinning slash with it at the level of his knees, and so fast and hard that the move kicked up a small dust cloud.

After his little move, Tormod turned back around to a stunned Aylene and Littlefoot, sword pointed out to his right.

"Were you talking about this, Littlefoot?" Tormod finally responded to Littlefoot's question.

"Uh, yes, I...I was." Littlefoot slowly replied. "Well...what's it called?"

"This, Littlefoot, is called a "Claymore"." Tormod answered Littlefoot's question. "This is what I use to cut fast biters and sharpteeth to pieces with. And yes, I actually do that."

"R-Really?" Aylene almost gasped, apparently not believing that someone human-sized could kill Tyrannosaurus Rexes with only a sword.

"Yes, really." Tormod simply told her. "If we ever happen to encounter one, I will gladly show you." Then, he decided to focus back on their journey to the Great Valley. "Well, anyways, let's keep going. Wasting time would not be a good thing."

Aylene and Littlefoot seemed a little jarred by Tormod's sudden change of topic, but they both looked at each other and nodded - they seemed to know that wasting time was bad. So, with that, Tormod sheathed his blade again, and then he put his arm around Littlefoot's next again, and soon, the 3 were focused back on their journey to the valley.

...

Soon, the three were all walking together (since Aylene finally felt like walking) along the canyon that had been formed yesterday by the massive earthquake, and, as Tormod would later find out, separated Aylene and Littlefoot from Littlefoot's Grandparents. The other side of it rose a great height over their heads. Even Tormod himself was disturbed by the power that this earthquake had.

"Looks like we won't be able to go that way." Littlefoot said to Aylene sadly. "I'm not very good at climbing."

"Me neither." Aylene added in the same tone.

"Well, I can climb just fine..." Tormod told them, "but trying to climb THAT is pretty much suicidal. I think that a better idea would be to keep going this way, oui?"

Aylene and Littlefoot nodded their heads in agreement with him, so they kept going the way that they were going. But as they kept going, Tormod was still unnerved by the size of the earthquake.

" _This is the strongest earthquake I've ever been through here_." Tormod thought worriedly. " _If an earthquake like this had happened back in our world, it would have been rated 10 on the Richter Scale. I just hope that it never becomes reality there..._ "

As Tormod walked on, though, he happened to glance behind him, and he noticed that Aylene and Littlefoot were walking near the chasm at different distances. Littlefoot was walking only a single meter away from the edge. He didn't appear to be uncomfortable around high places. Aylene, however, was keeping about 3 meters away from the edge. Tormod himself was walking two meters from the edges, not because he had a fear of heights, but because he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't fall off the edge of the chasm to his death. Either way, it was very easy for him to tell the difference between the two. And he wasn't the only one of the 3 who noticed Aylene walking a distance like that.

"Aylene, what's wrong?" Tormod heard Littlefoot ask as he turned his head back forward to continue the journey.

"Nothing." Aylene responded quickly. It sounded like a sensitive matter.

But Littlefoot didn't sound like he was having any of that. "Come on, you can tell me. Why are you walking so far over there?"

Tormod heard the footsteps from the two of them stop, and he heard Aylene take a deep breath before admitting, with apparent embarrassment in her voice, this: "I'm afraid of heights! There, I said it!" At the same time, Tormod stopped as well.

Apparently, Littlefoot didn't get the concept of what a Fear of Heights was. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Oh, sure," Aylene groaned with nervous sarcasm, "except falling off and rushing to your doom. And probably have your heart stop before hitting the bottom of a bottomless pit."

"Come on, it's not that bad." Littlefoot told her, still not believing that great heights were dangerous. At that point, Tormod cut in.

"Well, it is." Tormod refuted the young Apatosaurus, motioning to the large crack in the ground while still looking away. "Aylene's got a point: you REALLY don't want to be a red spot on that canyon floor all the way down there just because you tripped on a rock up here. Many of our fellow humans have died that way." Then, Tormod turned to look at Littlefoot. "S'il te plait, don't end up like them. I suggest you walk closer to Aylene than to the edge."

After a few moments, Littlefoot finally said "Okay..." and walked over to where Aylene was.

"That's better." Tormod remarked. But then, he scratched the back of his head. "Then again, though, I guess that great heights won't be as much of a problem for you, Littlefoot. That's because when you grow up, you're going to be a giant who'll be towering over Aylene and I."

Littlefoot and Aylene actually laughed at this comment from Tormod. Though he didn't show it, Tormod was glad to see them laugh like that, since it showed that, emotionally, Littlefoot and Aylene may have been broken, but they were fixable, and they weren't yet shattered.

Unfortunately, this moment didn't last, for Littlefoot's frown returned when he looked at the leaf on his back.

"I miss her." Littlefoot whimpered. "I miss my family."

"I miss mine as well." Aylene responded sadly.

That reminded Tormod of something as the two of them looked at each other: despite the two of them being of different species and from different worlds, Aylene and Littlefoot had something in common right now.

Both were separated from their families. Something that really, really, shouldn't happen to anyone in a forcible way.

As Littlefoot circled the ground with his paw, and Aylene let out a sigh, Tormod decided to talk to them.

"Hey, you two, may I tell you something?" Tormod asked.

"Oh, uh, go ahead." Aylene told him hesitantly.

"Well," Tormod began, "you see, here in THIS world, I...live in the Great Valley, and because of that, I know the way there. So, I hope that that makes it easier for you two."

Aylene and Littlefoot were a bit surprised, but also seemed to be grateful, with both of them nearly smiling, but not quite.

"Also," Tormod continued, "I...I really want to help you two make it there. Of course, part of it is because Sharptooth's still lurking around, but it's also because, for some reason, I...I've found that I care about both of you, and for some reason, I'm already seeing you as younger siblings, even though I just met you."

If what Tormod had said before didn't make Aylene or Littlefoot smile, what he said now certainly did. Sure, those smiles were small ones, but still, they were smiling again, and Tormod, although not smiling himself, liked that.

And then, Tormod wrapped his arms around Aylene and Littlefoot, letting them know that he was right there if they needed him or wanted him.

"I won't fail either of you." Tormod promised them. "Loyalty is one of my strong points, after all."

"...thank you, Tormod." Littlefoot eventually thanked him, glad to have another, more powerful, friend at his side along with Aylene.

"You're very welcome, Littlefoot." Tormod told him.

After a few more seconds, Tormod let go of Littlefoot and Aylene, and then the two got right back to getting to the valley.

* * *

 **Sorry it took so long to update. Stupid Writer's Block...UGH.**

 **Hopefully, the next chapter will come sooner than this one did.**


	10. Cera

**Warning: heavy amounts of snark ahead.**

* * *

As Tormod, Aylene, and Littlefoot continued on their journey, the temperatures rose along with the sun.

Tormod noticed Aylene drinking water from one of her water bottles, and giving Littlefoot some water from another one of her bottles. Okay. Aylene and Littlefoot didn't seem to have as much stamina as him anyways. Tormod himself wasn't sweating yet, but even then, he knew that he needed to keep himself hydrated just like any other human in order to survive. Of course, he had some water of his own to deal with this fact.

While Tormod was leading them onwards, to pass the time, Aylene and Littlefoot began having casual conversations. Tormod didn't interrupt, but he still listened in, providing his silent mental commentary. He guessed that Littlefoot had been asking Aylene a lot of questions previously, and still had many more to ask.

"So, what are your arrows made of?"

"Well, the stick, which is called the "shaft", is made of wood. The arrowhead is made of stone, and the flippers on the end, which are called fletchlings, are made of arrows. My grandfather taught me how to make my own arrows."

Good for Aylene. She knew how to make her own arrows. If Tormod had remembered his bow and arrows, which he had, unfortunately, forgot this time around, he would have also shown Littlefoot his bow and his arrows, for he had actually made all of his arrows by himself.

"That's pretty neat."

"Yeah, although I'm not sure how much damage an arrow could do to a T-Rex."

Come on, Aylene, an arrow can do _plenty_ of damage to a T-Rex. Tormod himself took down many carnivorous dinosaurs, T-Rexes included, with them.

"T-Rex?"

"Short for Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's what we call a dinosaur like Sharptooth."

Now they were talking about human names for dinosaur species. How random.

"We also have names for dinosaurs like you, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, long-necked dinosaurs as a whole would be classified as sauropods. The type of sauropod that you are is an Apatosaurus. Cera, the threehorn we met yesterday, is a Triceratops because she has three horns."

Well, duh, the word "Triceratops" means "three-horned face" in greek.

"Or rather, she will have three horns on her head when she's an adult."

You met another hatchling besides Littlefoot yesterday? How interesting.

"Adult?"

"Grown-up."

Get used to people referring to fully-grown dinosaurs as "adults", Littlefoot. You'll need to around Tormod and Aylene.

"Wow, you certainly know a lot about dinosaurs."

"Yeah, that's how I got the nickname "Dino Nerd" back in my world."

No wonder. She's practically a walking encyclopedia about dinosaurs.

But then came the most awkward question that a dinosaur could ever ask a human, courtesy of Littlefoot.

"So, do you have dinosaurs back where you come from?"

This caused Tormod to turn around to look at Littlefoot with a startled expression, just in time for him to see Aylene do a spit take with the water in her mouth, coughing for a moment when the reaction almost caused her to choke. When she got her breathing under control again, she looked at Littlefoot with the same expression as Tormod.

"Uhm, what was the question again?" Aylene asked the young Apatosaurus nervously, still clearing her throat back out.

"I asked if you had dinosaurs back in your world." Littlefoot repeated his question.

As Tormod expected, Aylene was at a lost for words. Tormod couldn't blame her. How could any sane individual tell this young dinosaur that all of the dinosaurs from their world were extinct? Seriously, how?

To prevent Aylene from having to answer that question, Tormod cut in.

"Littlefoot, could you PLEASE take what you're named after back out of your mouth for a second?" Tormod asked him.

"What, is it a bad question to ask?" Littlefoot asked back, clearly disturbed by Tormod's reaction.

"Oui, it is." Tormod answered. "You REALLY do not want to know the answer to that question."

"Umm...okay." Littlefoot slowly responded. Then, he decided that his time of asking questions was over. "Uh, let's just focus on getting to the valley?"

"We could do that." Tormod replied.

So the 3 of them did just that, continuing on their journey to the valley.

But they soon encountered another distraction about a minute later. When Littlefoot, who had been looking towards the ground as he was walking, then looked up, he saw something on the same side of the ravine as he was about 20 yards away.

"CERA!" Littlefoot shouted in apparent recognition of someone.

"Mon dieu, no need to be so loud, Littlefoot." Tormod quietly said to himself, wincing at how LOUD Littlefoot was.

Littlefoot began racing towards the young Triceratops, with Aylene following him closely behind, and Tormod walking after them, not feeling like _running_ after them.

However, this little Triceratops, who was apparently the "Cera" that Aylene had described to Tormod, didn't exactly share Littlefoot and Aylene's sentiments, for when Littlefoot approached her, she gave him a sourpuss face and grunted at him "What do you want?".

"Uh, n-nothing." Littlefoot backed away about a step or two, sensing Cera's very foul mood. "Where are you going?"

"I'M going to find my OWN kind." Cera snorted, sticking her horn up in the air. "They're on the other side."

That's when Tormod finally caught up to them.

"Aylene and Littlefoot, next time you two go running off after something, S'IL-TE-PLAIT, try to watch where you're going." Tormod told his fellow human and the young Apatosaurus with a rather exasperated tone. "You two almost ran me right over."

Aylene and Littlefoot looked down a little at this, disappointed with themselves about their not paying attention.

Then, Tormod walked over to Cera, unimpressed with the young triceratops' attitude.

"And who's this little threehorn boy giving Littlefoot and Aylene trouble this morning?" Tormod asked her sarcastically, getting a dinosaur hatchling's gender wrong for the second time, although this time, considering how she was acting, he couldn't have cared less. "You do realize that I have little time for this, right?"

"My name's Cera, and I'm a GIRL, thank you very much!" Cera practically shouted at him, irritated.

"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, princess." Tormod replied to her, sarcastic once again. "It's hard to tell."

Tormod then looked at the massive ledge, and then back at an annoyed Cera.

"So you're intending to climb that." Tormod said flatly. "Tough luck, Cera. Can't do that. Your paws aren't made for climbing. And besides, not even I can climb that massive rock face."

"Maybe YOU can't." Cera snorted again, attempting to get in Tormod's face in an attempt to intimidate him and make him back off.

However, it didn't work because one, Cera only came up to a little past Tormod's waist, and two, Tormod wasn't frightened at all. In fact, he was even MORE unimpressed.

"Oh, so you're trying to scare me?" Tormod asked her dryly. "How cute." Tormod then drew his Claymore out of the sheath on his back, startling Cera as he did so, and once he had drawn it, put the tip to Cera's forehead. "THIS is how you intimidate someone."

Cera, realizing that Tormod had something large, heavy, and sharp at his disposal, backed away from Tormod, visibly frightened by him. When she backed far enough away that she was out of the Claymore's range, Tormod then sheathed it again.

"Know your place, Cera." Tormod told her as he sheathed his blade.

Once Tormod sheathed his blade, and once she heard what Tormod said, Cera's face when from frightened back to pouty.

After a few moments, she turned around and jumped down to a small ledge that was only a foot down from the ledge where Tormod was standing.

"Just to let know you, Cera," Tormod made an offer, "I'm taking these two to the Great Valley with me, and I know the exact way there. So I'll ask you this: would you like to come with us and save yourself the trouble of trying to find it yourself? Your call, little threehorn."

As Tormod expected her to do due to her apparent massive ego, Cera scowled at the idea.

"A threehorn does not need help from a human OR a longneck!" Cera replied snobbishly, and, as Tormod knew, foolishly.

Cera stuck her horn in the air again and attempted to kick dirt at Tormod. However, the dirt didn't reach him, and this act of hers blew up in her face, as it made her lose her footing and slide down the ramp into the darker pit below.

"Pride before a fall." Tormod quietly said to himself in a dry tone as he watched Cera nearly disappear into the blackness of the cavern below him, first hearing her screaming (an admittedly painful sound to listen to), and then a loud thud as she apparently hit the bottom, followed by her groaning from the impact.

"We'll, at least we wouldn't be alone!" Littlefoot, who had moved up to the canyon besides Tormod, called out to Cera. Aylene, as usual, wouldn't even try getting THAT close to the canyon.

"Well, when I find my family I won't BE alone!" Cera snapped at him. "So go away!"

Cera raised her horn and tail high in the air, much like a very dominant dog, and began to pompously walk through the bottom of the ravine as he continued her little "superiority" speech, which made Tormod roll his eyes.

"Threehorns can be very dangerous. And they only TALK with others threehorns. And the only TRAVEL with other THREEHORNS!"

Tormod sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at the young threehorn's flawed logic and clear ignorance of reality. Some people and dinosaurs just couldn't be helped.

Beside him, Littlefoot hung his head at the fate that Cera likely faced. That's when he decided to indulge in some dry wit himself.

"Why does Cera seem to think that she can dig her way to her family?" Littlefoot asked himself sardonically.

What Tormod said internally was "Perhaps she doesn't realize that she's about to dig her own grave". But knowing that Littlefoot wouldn't know what a grave was, nor would he want to know, what Tormod said externally was "Perhaps she doesn't realize that she IS about to reunite with her family...but not in the way that she may want to.".

Then, Tormod knelt down next to Littlefoot, putting an arm around the young Apatosaurus.

"I know, Littlefoot, some just never learn the easy way, and always have to learn the hard way." Tormod told him. Cera's just one of them."

Littlefoot nodded at this. He definitely understood what Tormod meant.

Then, the two of them stood and turned to Aylene, who was waiting for them away from the ravine's edge.

"Are you two done?" Aylene asked them, a little unnerved by what Tormod had said and implied about Cera's fate.

"Yes." Tormod answered with one word.

And with that, without any more words being said, Tormod began leading the way to the valley once again, with Aylene and Littlefoot following him.

...

As the 3 continued onward, Tormod looked behind him again to check on Aylene and Littlefoot like he had been doing. But this time, he noticed that Aylene...wasn't looking like she was doing so well. She looked exhausted, and she was barely keeping up with Littlefoot. The poor girl needed some rest.

Though Aylene was clearly trying to hide her struggles, she could only do so for so long, and when they came to a large boulder, she finally stopped and leaned against it.

"Aylene?" Littlefoot's tongue slipped when he saw her stop.

The teenage girl slid down the rock and sat down at the bottom, clearly worn out. Tormod could also hear her stomach growling.

"Aylene, are you okay?" Littlefoot ask as he lowered his head to her level, filled with concern for her. Nearby, Tormod also walked back over to where Aylene was.

"I'm fine." Aylene lied to them to not make them worry about her. "Just needed to sit down for a second. Let's keep moving."

Aylene then tried to use the rock to stand back up. She managed to get to her feet, but when she tried to walk, her legs gave out from under her, and Tormod and Littlefoot, using their arms and neck respectively, had to catch her.

"Sorry..." Aylene groaned, "I hate being weak."

But Tormod was not about to have any of Aylene depreciating herself.

"Aylene, you're not weak." Tormod told her as he held her like a bride. "It's just that, right now, you're exhausted, and I don't want you dying from exhaustion. How about Littlefoot carries you so that you can save your energy?"

"Okay, fine." Aylene reluctantly agreed.

So Tormod walked to Littlefoot, who was waiting for them and was ready to carry Aylene on her back. Tormod then bent down to the level of Littlefoot's back, and he carefully set Aylene down on it.

With that, the three of them continued across the wasteland towards a small clump of trees on the horizon. Tormod knew that, here, they could get some food, and also, more importantly, at least for Tormod and Aylene, water.

* * *

 **Just now noticed that I completely forgot about the tree star that Littlefoot carried with him in the original movie and the original version of TLBT Retold. Oh well, guess I can't do much about it now.**

 **Also, if you had any doubts about whether Tormod had a dry sense of humor or not, they should be gone now.**


	11. Notice

**_I am very sorry for those of you who wanted to see the rest of this story, but I'm going to say that I've cancelled this particular story because...well, I've lost interest in it, because I was hit with Writer's Block really hard, and it's been 5 months since I've updated this. As for an adaptation of TLBT in my style...well, I'm about to try again. Just sit tight._**


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